FanHouse 07 Issues

This is one amateur's assessment of how the Oklahoma quarterback derby will shake out this spring.

The Contenders:
Joey Halzle (JR) 6-3, 198
Sam Bradford (R-FR) 6-5, 197
Keith Nichol (FR) 6-2, 180

As you can see, all three quarterbacks lack that classic dropback build. They're smaller, more combo-style passers, particularly Nichol who has some running ability and played cornerback as well as quarterback in high school. He's also the closest thing to a blue-chipper among the quarterbacks. The Sooners earned his commitment late in the recruiting game this year after he spurned homestate Michigan State where he would have been one of the gems in their recruiting class.

Halzle was signed out of a junior college last year (probably as much-needed insurance) and failed to beat out senior Paul Thompson last year after incumbent quarterback Rhett Bomar was kicked out of school.

The way I see it, Halzle has a slight edge on Bradford thanks to his junior college experience and extra semester with the offense. Neither quarterback distinguished himself as a backup last year. If form holds this spring and fall, Halzle will probably be the Sooners' starting quarterback as ties tend to go to the veterans.

Eventually, Nichol has a chance to make a push for the job as his pedigree's a little better than the other quarterbacks who are both relative unknowns at a position that tends to be played amongst blue chippers at major programs like Oklahoma.

I suspect Halzle earns the starting nod in the fall and plays well enough to hold the job for much of the year. From there he's either going to run away with the job, look decent and buy time for Nichol or fall on his face and open the job to Bradford or Nichol. The first option sounds unlikely, as does the third, leaving the second option as a time-buyer who will complement the Sooners' ground game rather than propel the offense as happened with guys like Jason White and Josh Heupel.

The real question at that point becomes this: can Nichol distinguish himself enough through spring, fall and the early season to be ready to outplay Halzle and become a long-time starter in the mold of Rhett Bomar before he got himself kicked out of school? There's no way to really know, obviously, but I suspect he'll fall just short and Halzle will ride out the season as the Sooners' starting quarterback.

Agree? Disagree? Be kind as this is just an outsider's perspective to what certainly will be a very guarded, highly competitive situation.

Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is expected to step down this week. His departure is yet another symbol of the passing of one of college football's greatest generations, the great coaches who presided over the game from 1960 or so until the mid to late 1970's. Broyles coached the Razorbacks from 1958 to 1976 helping them win a championship and competing nationally in a great era against powers like Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan.

Another giant of his time has left us in the mortal sense: Bo Schembechler. Schembechler coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989 becoming the face of the program until his death just before the Michigan/Ohio State game last year.

The only giants of that era still with us are Broyles, former Texas coach Darrell Royal (1957-1976) and former Notre Dame coach Ara Paraseghian (1964-1974).

Among the magnificent but dead is Alabama's Bear Bryant (1958-1982) who retired at the end of the 1982 season and promptly checked out of mortal existence. Ohio State's Woody Hayes (1951-1978) hung around until his death in 1987. Nebraska's Bob Devaney (1962-1972) checked out in 1997 and USC's comedic John McKay (1960-1975) lasted a little longer, passing away in 2001.

All those giants left the coaching ranks long ago, but each stewarded elite programs for a decade or more. To this day most of them remain the standard for which current coaches aspire to at each of their programs. Schembechler's death and Broyles' departure signal the end of their collective direct involvement in the college game.

As that great generation fades further into memory we must now also begin to take stock of the succeeding generation of coaches. I'm talking about guys like Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, John Robinson, Vince Dooley, Don James, Hayden Fry, Pat Dye, Lou Holtz, Lavell Edwards and Barry Switzer here.

They are the ones who were the game's caretakes from the mid to late 1970's until the late 1980's, an era of great transition and upheaval due to parity measures such as scholarship limits, the completion of racial integration and the rapid and dramatic death of plodding, run-heavy conventional offenses such as USC's "Student Body Right/Student Body Left" approach.

We'll save that analysis for another day, another time. Until then it's one final embrace of perhaps college football's "greatest generation" of coaches. Thanks for the memories, fellas.