After two weeks of will he or won't he, Oklahoma announced Friday that Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford will return to the lineup for Saturday's Big 12 opener against Baylor.Bradford, a junior, has missed the Sooners' (2-2) last three games and has been sidelined since the end of the first half of their season-opening loss to BYU (Sept. 5) with a sprained A-C Joint in his right throwing shoulder. There had been some speculation Bradford might return last week for the Miami game when he started throwing with the team for the first time, but it was determined the shoulder wasn't quite ready.
Head coach Bob Stoops began this week saying Bradford would continue to work and rehab the shoulder but he waited until Friday to declare his quarterback healthy enough to return to competition. Redshirt freshman Landry Jones has started for the 17th-ranked Sooners in Bradord's place the last three games, with the team going 2-1 after last week's loss to the Hurricanes.
"Sam has had a great week of practice and is ready to play," Stoops said after a morning meeting with Bradford on Friday. "We're obviously excited to have him back.
"We remain very pleased with the work Landry Jones did in replacing Sam and our entire program has a lot of confidence in his ability."
The timing of Bradford's return to the Sooners is huge, as they have one week before facing No. 2 Texas in the annual Red River Showdown in Dallas. The Sooners have all but fallen out of the BCS national title mix with two non-conferences losses, but a fourth straight Big 12 South title is still certainly in front of them.
Having Bradford back certainly helps in that quest after there were times when some questioned whether he would or should attempt to return. Bradford turned down a chance to go into last spring's NFL draft as a potential top pick.
The 2008 Heisman Trophy winners figures to be the top quarterback taken in next spring's draft if he is healthy. So there is a risk but Bradford has said that's something he's not concerned with at this point. Bradford and his family have been told there is no risk of further injuring the shoulder by playing.
"I really don't think there's much concern for me taking a hit," Bradford said. "From everything that I've received from the doctors, it's like taking any other hit. It can't do much more damage. The odds of me hurting it now are just like the odds of me hurting it before anything happened to it."
