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Videos: Sam Bradford is OU's main attraction

OU quarterback and Heisman winner Sam Bradford signs fans' items during Meet the Sooners Day on Friday. CORY YOUNG/Tulsa World

 
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
Published: 8/8/2009  2:21 AM
Last Modified: 8/13/2009  3:12 PM

 NORMAN — Jermaine Gresham has a favorite Sam Bradford moment. It's safe to say Bradford himself has a different one.

The summer before their freshman year as Oklahoma Sooners, Gresham and Bradford were grinding in one of strength coach Jerry Schmidt's unforgiving offseason workouts. This particular exercise, players were squatting down and duck-walking in a sand pit. Forever.

Schmidt, renowned for his in-your-face, drill-sergeant intensity, got down with Bradford and screamed at him to get out of the drill.

"I wasn't going fast enough, he said," Bradford said.

Instead of bowing out, though, Bradford did something unexpected. His thighs and hips screaming, his feet warping, his back aching, Bradford said no.

Sort of.

"I heard Sam beg so that he could stay in the workout," Gresham said. "I'm not going to say what he said or what he did, but it was funny."

"I was just trying to show my teammates that I wasn't going to give up on them. I wasn't going to give up on myself," Bradford recalled Friday during OU's Media Day interviews. "It would have been easy for me to leave, just walk out and not finish. But to me, that was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to finish and finish with my teammates."

Keep in mind, this was not Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, or NCAA touchdowns leader Sam Bradford, or even starting quarterback Sam Bradford.

"This is when he was a pup," Gresham said. "He wasn't even playing yet."

There's a reason why a quarter of the estimated 14,000 OU fans who endured triple-digit temperatures during "Meet the Sooners Day" Friday stood in line for hours just to share a brief moment across the table from Bradford — and it's not his Heisman, his touchdown passes or his title as the Sooners' QB.

"That's Sam," said fan Heather Esau. "That's what he is."

Esau made the 45-minute drive from Newalla and arrived at the OU practice fields at 5:30 a.m. There were already 20 or so fans ahead of her — some who stayed the night.

"A lot of these players are all about themselves because they're the star of the team, but he's not," Esau said. "He always talks about the team, the team, the team. That's why we like him."

Bradford, meanwhile, sat for two hours in a chair under a shade tent, wearing his crimson No. 14 jersey and flip-flops, signing autographs, posing for snapshot and just saying hi.

One young fan across the ropes in line for the tight ends got near Gresham, then shouted, "Hey, Sam Bradford!" Bradford looked up from signing a football, peered between shoulders and made eye contact. The boy smiled and waved. Bradford waved back and smiled. The boy jerked his little brother into a better perspective through forest of bodies and said, "See? See? He waved at me!"

"He's the greatest, man. He's the best. Greatest quarterback, greatest guy," said Andrew Adams, who drove up from North Richland Hills, Texas, with his father and his two sons, Luke, 10, and Matt, 8. Sadly, they arrived at 9:30 a.m., and took their place in the cue with roughly 1,000 ahead of them. Eventually, they abandoned their quest and joined a much shorter line — that of head coach Bob Stoops.

"When we first got here, there weren't very many people in the Bob Stoops line," Adams said. "We thought, 'Should we do Bob Stoops or not?' We thought, 'Well, I can always come back next year and get Bob Stoops.' He'd better be here. But Sam and these other guys, probably not."

Steve Nelson of Pawnee waited in the sun with his daughter, McKenzie, 9. Somewhere, in some other line, was his son, Ty, 16.

In a bag, Steve held a football signed by Steve Owens, Billy Sims and Jason White. But, with only an hour left and still some 2,000 fans ahead of him, hope was fading.

"This is a big deal for us," he said. "It's going to be close, I think."

What about dropping out and joining a shorter line?

"No way," Nelson said. "He's why we came here — Sam Bradford."

An hour after getting in line, Jeff Hammonds and his son, Barrett, 8, strode away with a couple of Bradford autographs. Jeff's was a helmet also autographed by Jason White after his 2003 Heisman season. Barrett's was on a game-worn white football jersey with crimson numbers. It had grass stains on the front and back, but that won't happen again.

"He's going to hang it up now," Jeff Hammonds said. "This jersey's done."

The Hammonds arrived from Fort Worth at 6:50 a.m. and stood "about 100th in line."

Young Barrett said he likes "mostly Boz" — that's 1980s linebacker icon Brian Bosworth — and then Adrian Peterson. Then Bradford. After hearing about Bradford's duck walk, though, he may move Bradford up the list.

"Don't quit!" Barrett shouted, nodding his head.

"We constantly teach this one right here, don't ever quit. Don't quit ever," Hammonds said. "You may not finish first, but you finish. I think there's something to be said about that. I really do."

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Two from OU and OSU on Camp Award list

Another preseason watch list, another honor for Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford.

Bradford joined OU tight end Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant and Cowboys running back Kendall Hunter among 27 players on the watch list for the Walter Camp Award, which goes to college football’s top overall player.

Texas quarterback Colt McCoy — one of eight Big 12 Conference players on the list — won the Camp Award last year. Texas wideout Jordan Shipley, Kansas QB Todd Reesing and Missouri safety Sean Weatherspoon are the other Big 12 contenders.

2009 Walter Camp Award preseason watch list:

Jahvid Best, RB, Jr., California
Arrelious Benn, WR, Jr., Illinois
Eric Berry, DB, Jr., Tennessee
Sam Bradford, QB, Jr., Oklahoma
LaGarrette Blount, RB, Sr., Oregon
Dez Bryant, WR, Jr., Oklahoma State
Daryll Clark, QB, Sr., Penn State
Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Jr., Georgia Tech
Mardy Gilyard, WR, Sr., Cincinnati
Jermaine Gresham, TE, Sr., Oklahoma
Max Hall, QB, Sr., Brigham Young
Tim Hiller, QB, Sr., Western Michigan
Jerry Hughes, DE, Sr., TCU
Kendall Hunter, RB, Jr., Oklahoma State
Taylor Mays, DB, Sr., USC
Colt McCoy, QB, Sr., Texas
Kellen Moore, QB, So., Boise State
Todd Reesing, QB, Sr., Kansas
Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, So., Oregon State
George Selvie, DE, Sr., South Florida
Jordan Shipley, WR, Sr., Texas
Rusty Smith, QB, Sr., Florida Atlantic
Jevan Snead, QB, Jr., Mississippi
Brandon Spikes, LB, Sr., Florida
Golden Tate, WR, Jr., Notre Dame
Tim Tebow, QB, Sr., Florida
Sean Weatherspoon, LB, Sr., Missouri

Upcoming watch list announcement schedule


Monday: Fred Biletnikoff Award (receiver)
Tuesday: Outland Trophy (interior lineman)
Wednesday: Lou Groza Award (kicker)
Thursday: Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player)
Friday: Robert Maxwell Award (all-around player)
Aug. 20: Dick Butkus Award (linebacker)
John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

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COMMENTS 
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9 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Video: Sooners meet with fans, media," which was published on 8/7/2009.
Report Comment
Arbythree, Tulsa (8/7/2009 1:12:24 PM)
Let's get started!!!

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!!
Report Comment
T!ger,, Tulsa (8/7/2009 2:22:30 PM)
I'm with ya Arby!

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!
Report Comment
Arbythree, Tulsa (8/7/2009 3:28:26 PM)
slug, you continue to disappoint me.
Report Comment
im4osu, Broken Arrow (8/7/2009 4:01:08 PM)
I wonder who brought the crack?
Report Comment
im4osu, Broken Arrow (8/7/2009 4:01:47 PM)
Stoops is the best ever though, you gotta give him his props.
Report Comment
T!ger,, Tulsa (8/7/2009 4:18:27 PM)
sluggyslime,

You disappoint me too! You are so negative! You must not have anything else to do but sit and make rude comments.
Report Comment
BBJRP, (8/7/2009 6:38:37 PM)
Slug and im4osu--Robert Allen brought the "crack"--check out his pants and employment status--both just barely covering his butt!
Report Comment
seymore1965, Tulsa (8/7/2009 8:00:50 PM)
I was in the last half of the Sam Bradford line the whole time. Of course, no autograph. I didn't go in thinking I would get one either. Just keep trying. I didn't get to Meet the Sooners today.
Report Comment
TMS, (8/9/2009 2:21:41 PM)
Sam's new haircut looks a lot better than the Girlie type he had.
 

 
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