Star-searching
Sooners looking for their quarterback of the future

By John Helsley

Published: October 13, 2006

NORMAN — Oklahoma coordinator Kevin Wilson views the coming years of his offense like a chessboard.

And Wilson likes the power of his position, with ample players of varying importance and skill in place, many of them sophomores and freshmen dominating the two-deep.

Except on the board's most critical space: quarterback.

"You've got all the pawns and other pieces," Wilson said.

"You just need the king piece sitting back there in the middle."

So the Sooners search for their king, selling high school and junior college prospects with opportunity to hold a coveted place on the board.

"It's a very attractive opportunity," Wilson said. "You'd think that would sell."

For the first time since the early stages of the Bob Stoops era, the Sooners face future uncertainty at quarterback, threatening the extent of their success in 2007 and beyond.

Fifth-year senior Paul Thompson filled this season's urgent need when Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the squad in August. But he might as well hang a vacancy sign on the position when he takes his last snap this season.

Sophomore Joey Halzle and freshman Sam Bradford are in place to compete, but neither has shown enough to suggest he'd be ready to lead a Big 12 title run next fall.

Halzle was more or less recruited to be Bomar's backup, while Bradford was added to perhaps progress enough to take over when Bomar's time at OU expired after 2008.

Recruiting behind Bomar, who started a year ago as a freshman, wasn't easy. And it wasn't all that necessary.

The Sooners might have passed on anything but an elite quarterback this winter, if Bomar hadn't botched his career by breaking NCAA rules.

Now the Sooners are scrambling to find just such an elite quarterback, maybe two. And they're playing from behind, with many of the nation's top prep signal callers already promised to other schools.

Still, OU has that one enticing carrot to dangle: opportunity.

"I think that opportunity is definitely something that is exciting for kids, especially at a place like OU," said Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting editor for Rivals.com. "Quarterback, above all others, is a position where kids want to get on the field early. They're seeing kids play right away all across the country.

"So that will be very attractive to a lot of kids. I don't think coach Stoops will ever promise a kid he'll start from day one, but he will promise they can come in and compete."

Stoops is already promising competition.

"Yeah, that's fair to say, because of how thin we are and how inexperienced," Stoops said. "It's something, I believe, we don't have to sell, because I think it's obvious to everybody.

"But we do."

How well will it sell is the issue.

The Sooners seem to have targeted two top high school prospects from Florida: John Brantley of Ocala, and Stephen Garcia of Tampa.

Brantley, the No. 2-ranked quarterback in the country by Rivals.com, is committed to Texas, yet hasn't told OU to stay away. Stoops is said to have a long-standing relationship with the Brantley family, from his time as a Florida assistant.

Stoops spent one Friday night this fall in Florida watching Brantley from the sideline.

"Even though Brantley is still committed to Texas, he's still showing some interest in Oklahoma, privately," Crabtree said. "Publicly, the kid and his dad are saying all the right things, that they're firm to Texas.

"Bob Stoops doesn't just fly down there to watch him without some interest from the family."

Garcia, ranked just behind Brantley at No. 3 by Rivals.com, isn't committed, but lists high interest in South Carolina, with Oklahoma among a group of seven other schools in the running. It makes for an interesting subplot, with Stoops in a rare head-to-head clash with his former boss, Steve Spurrier, for a player.

"The Garcia kid is probably a South Carolina lean, because Spurrier got in there early and has maintained a relationship," Crabtree said. "But he will take an official visit to Oklahoma."

The Sooners are also considering Kodi Burns of Fort Smith, Ark., and others among high schoolers.

From the junior college ranks, the focus seems to be on Cade Cooper of Utah's Snow College — the same school that sent Josh Heupel to the Sooners — and Bryan Savage, a former Wisconsin recruit now at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

One thing is certain, opportunity awaits.

"We'll see how Sam and Joey keep coming along, too," Wilson said. "We're not going to tell any quarterback, ‘come here and you're going to be the guy.' We didn't tell Adrian Peterson he'd start — he didn't start until the fourth game — and he's as good a freshman as there's been in college football.

"They'll have to come and show they're the best player. But the opportunity is there."