Recruiting ROI, No. 1: Sam Bradford

Oklahoma City native shocked many when he earned the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2007, but would leave Norman among the greatest to wear the Sooner uniform

From a general athletic standpoint, Sam Bradford stood out. As a high school football player, however, he didn’t exactly command the attention of top collegiate programs.

Yet when Bradford hung up his cleats in Norman, he ranked among the most decorated players ever to don the crimson and cream.

Bradford, who as a child played four sports at an elite level, chose to focus on the pigskin after graduating from Putnam City North. The OKC native had opportunities to play Division I basketball, and earned acclaim across the state for his prowess on the golf course and in the hockey rink. Nevertheless, his passion lay on the gridiron.

Rated a three-star prospect, Bradford spurned offers from Texas A&M, Iowa State and Texas Tech to stay home and attend Oklahoma. He arrived on campus to redshirt in 2006, shortly after Rhett Bomar’s illegal benefits scandal threw the Sooners’ offensive plans into limbo. Fifth-year senior wideout Paul Thompson stepped in and performed admirably, leading Oklahoma to a Fiesta Bowl berth, but the Bomar saga left the Sooners without a clear successor going forward.

Enter Bradford.

Coming into the 2007 season, he wasn’t widely expected to start. Joey Halzle, a dual-threat quarterback and former top-50 recruit, topped the preseason depth chart in the eyes of many pundits. Oklahoma also had true freshman Keith Nichol in the quarterback competition as well. However, it was Bradford - not Halzle - who earned the Week 1 nod, and he very quickly validated Bob Stoops’ faith in him.

He went 21-of-23 for 363 yards and three touchdowns in his debut versus North Texas, and tossed five touchdown passes a week later against Miami. The nation soon began to take notice of the redshirt freshman lighting up scoreboards for the Sooners, and Bradford finished the 2007 campaign with 3,121 yards and 36 TDs. He would lead Oklahoma to a Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth to finish the season.

His initial year as the Sooners' quarterback was outstanding in its own right, but it set the table for one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history.

In 2008, Bradford and the high-powered Oklahoma offense utterly torched the competition en route to a berth in the BCS national championship game. He racked up nearly 5,000 yards and threw for 50 touchdowns, spearheading an offense that set an FBS record with 702 total points. Though Oklahoma would fall to Tim Tebow's Florida Gators in the title game, Bradford claimed the Heisman Trophy in a tightly contested race, beating out Tebow and Texas QB Colt McCoy.

Bradford was draft-eligible after his otherworldly 2008 season, but elected to return to Oklahoma for his junior year. However, his 2009 campaign never had a chance to get off the ground. He separated his shoulder in the Sooners' Week 1 tilt with BYU, and in his absence, Oklahoma fell 14-13. The untimely injury thrust redshirt freshman Landry Jones into action, and the OU offense began to sputter. Bradford would return to the lineup on October 10, throwing for 389 yards and a score against Baylor. But he aggravated the injury a week later against Texas, and as he writhed in obvious pain on the Cotton Bowl turf, it became evident to the Oklahoma faithful that Bradford's season and Sooner career were over.

Indeed, Bradford wouldn't appear in another game for the Sooners, and he entered the 2010 NFL draft to much fanfare. The St. Louis Rams surprised no one when they selected him with the first overall pick, effectively handing him the keys to the franchise as their quarterback of the future.

Bradford's professional career spanned nine years, and featured tenures with the Rams, Eagles, Vikings and Cardinals. After a Rookie of the Year campaign in 2010, he experienced a myriad of ups and downs over the next few seasons. Though his NFL tour of duty was largely marred by injuries and inconsistency, it did little to detract from the greater narrative in Norman. Bradford's legacy in crimson is set in stone. From insignificant in-state pickup to top draft pick, his journey to greatness is unparalleled in Sooner lore.

For all that he did in his two full seasons as the Sooners' starting quarterback, no one over the last two decades has given the Sooners a  greater return on their recruiting investment than Sam Bradford. He's a worthy candidate to top the list in SI Sooners' Recruiting ROI series.

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