NORMAN - Mystery Man Paul Thompson trots onto Owen Field tonight. We know his face (think a young Denzel Washington). We know his number (12). We know his personality (sharp, quiet, confident).
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But we do not know his quarterbacking.
Thompson has been Oklahoma’s backup quarterback for 50 games, which surely is some kind of NCAA record. Been backup to Nate Hybl and Jason White and Rhett Bomar. Every Sooner game this side of 2001, save the Tulsa and Alabama tilts of 2002 and the TCU debacle of 2005.
But aside from 57 snaps against TCU last September, Thompson is an enigma. Is he the QB who completed 11 of 26 against the Horned Frogs and fumbled near the goal line, or is he a good quarterback who happened to make his first real game a bad one?
We don’t know.
Of course, we didn’t know about Dave Robertson, either.
Not since 1972 has a Sooner football team been handed to a quarterback so well known and yet so unknown. Not in 34 years has OU turned to a senior quarterback with virtually no prior starts.
Robertson had to wait out the splendid career of Jack Mildren, then became OU’s second wishbone quarterback.
Robertson was an unusual suspect. Tall, good arm, not particularly fast. More Garrick McGee than Thomas Lott. If not for the peculiar sight of Troy Aikman running the option, Robertson would be the most unlikely of Sooner ’bonemen.
But he got the job done. Robertson staved off a bid for the job from true freshman Kerry Jackson, led an offense that averaged 33.3 points a game and even threw a 27-yard TD pass to Tinker Owens in a 14-0 Sugar Bowl win over Penn State.
What happened to Robertson will happen to Thompson. He will get better.
Quarterbacks must play to improve. That’s true of any position, I suppose, but it’s especially so of quarterbacks. The split-second decisions, the feel of the game, the timing of passes (or options). You can’t replicate that in practice. You can’t replicate that wearing a blue jersey.
Quarterbacks largely stagnate without live-action Saturdays.
“I would agree with that,“ said Robertson, who now lives in Boise, Idaho. “To hone your skill sets, yeah, I think you gotta play.“
Robertson played lots in 1971, mopping up for that Mildren juggernaut. “But that’s not the same thing,“ Robertson said. “You’re not playing a game, you’re playing out a game.“
Big difference, which renders Thompson’s backup experience largely moot. TCU has been his only real test, and Alabama-Birmingham tonight becomes Exam No. 2.
Thompson expresses confidence in his abilities. But he also admits to a little curiosity over how he will perform. Robertson was a little curious, himself.
“I wasn’t well-suited to that offense,“ Robertson said of the wishbone. “I had a good football head. I understood what we were trying to do. I never thought I was a bad wishbone player; I just wasn’t a good runner.
“It was probably about the sixth game before I actually had a comfort level.“
But Robertson got the job done. He’s OU’s most innocuous optioneer, yet his 11-1 career record as a starter is the fifth-best in Sooner QB history.
Could Thompson pull a Robertson? Could the Sooners win a conference championship, and challenge for a national crown, with a mystery man at quarterback?
“The thing about his role, 10 other guys are out there with him,“ Robertson said, which is 1972-speak for manage the game. “They’re all very talented.“
Said Thompson, “I’m definitely excited I know what I can do.“
That makes one of us. We don’t know Thompson’s quarterbacking. That doesn’t mean it won’t be good.
Berry Tramel: 475-3314, btramel@oklahoman.com; Berry Tramel’s radio show, the Writer’s Block, can be heard Monday-Friday from 4-7 p.m. on KREF-AM 1400, KADA-AM 1230 and KSEO-AM 750.
Senior inexperience
Since World War II, OU has settled as its primary quarterback on a quarterback with little or no experience. The results have been more than solid:
1950: Claude Arnold set passing records that lasted until 1967 (Bobby Warmack passing yards) and 1993 (Cale Gundy TD passes). OU went 10-1 and won the national title.
1957: Carl Dodd was not asked to be a playmaker; he completed only eight passes. But Dodd started 10 games, the Sooners finished 10-1 and routed Duke in the Orange Bowl.
1961: Bob Page took over in Game 3 and lost his first three starts as OU fell to 0-5. But the Sooners won their final five games.
1962: Monte Deere made only one previous start but was superb as a senior. He completed 57.7 percent of his passes, threw nine TDs and no interceptions, and the Sooners went 8-3, won the Big Eight and played Alabama in the Orange Bowl.
1972: Dave Robertson, Jack Mildren’s backup in the wishbone breakout days of 1970-71, completed 51 percent of his passes, threw 10 TDs and ran an efficient option as OU went 11-1 and beat Penn State in the Sugar Bowl.
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