Big 12 Football: 50 best players of all-time

Big 12 Football best players of all-time: 14. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma football

Sam Bradford had a short but impressive career with the Oklahoma Sooners. An Oklahoma native, Bradford received a scholarship to play for his hometown team and started out his career as a redshirt, watching Paul Thompson lead them to a Big 12 championship. Thompson wasn’t supposed to be the starter but the former wideout was pressed into action when Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team for violating league rules.

The following season, Bradford won the starting job in a battle with six players. Once he was named the starter, he didn’t disappoint. As a redshirt freshman, Bradford had 3,121 yards with 36 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

He came back even better in year two, leading Oklahoma to a 12-1 regular-season record and a Big 12 championship. He broke the school record for most yards in a single game that season, throwing for 468 in a win over Kansas. He was also the central figure for a streak of five-straight games with over 60 points scored, an NCAA first.

Bradford won the Heisman Trophy that season, beating out Colt McCoy, and it’s easy to see why when looking at the numbers. The redshirt sophomore threw for 4,720 yards with a 50-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Unfortunately, Bradford’s time with the Sooners ended with him suffering a shoulder injury which ended his junior campaign after throwing just 69 passes. He still did enough to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft but the injury problems followed him to the NFL where he ended up playing for four different teams in nine seasons.