Oklahoma’s leading receiver, Ryan Broyles, could return to action in a month or less, coach Bob Stoops said Monday morning.
“They have identified a fracture in his shoulder blade,” Stoops said. “[The medical staff’s] best estimate is somewhere between two to four weeks until he can return to play.”
That estimate is slightly more optimistic than the four-to-six week estimate offered Saturday night. Broyles was injured on the Sooners’ first series in a 21-20 loss at Miami after a 37-yard reception, OU’s longest play of the night.
He entered the game with a national-best seven touchdowns on 22 receptions for 309 yards.
Stoops also said the yardstick would be the same as last week to determine if quarterback Sam Bradford would play Saturday against Baylor.
“It’s making all the throws and making them comfortably, being able to execute the offense and make the throws he needs to make,” Stoops said. “And to be able to do them in a precise way and in a way that he is not aggravating [his right shoulder injury].
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said Monday morning that the evaluation of quarterback Sam Bradford’s status for Saturday’s game at Miami would continue through the week, but refused to speculate on Bradford’s chances of playing.
“I would think we would know here later in the week what Sam is able to handle and where we are with it,” Stoops said Monday morning.
He said he doubted the decision would go to game time.
“I would think it would be earlier than that,” he said. “We just have to feel comfortable that he feels healthy, that he is good enough to make the throws we need to make and he’s ready to do it.
“All his rehab to this point, everything has been positive.”
Stoops described Bradford’s weekend trip to Alabama to consult with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews as nothing more than a checkup and that he was not seeking a “clearance” to play as some had speculated about the visit.
“As much as anything [it was] an extra opinion,” Stoops said.
“Our [medical staff has] been awesome in their evaluations. When it first happened, they got multiple opinions and everybody’s were all pretty similar and felt our guys were definitely on the right track and doing the right things. And I think that was the outcome the other day as well.
“Our doctors, through all the MRIs and everything, visited with many, many people, including Dr. Andrews.”
The NCAA has denied a final appeal from Oklahoma linebacker Mike Balogun and his attorney Woody Glass to overturn the organization's decision to bar Balogun from playing for the Sooners this season.
The NCAA upheld its ruling that Balogun played amateur league football after his 21st birthday and is therefore ineligible.
"I am so disapointed for Mike," Glass said Friday morning. "His only avenue now is in the courts."
The 25-year-old Balogun turned 21 on Sept. 28, 2004.
Glass hasn’t had a chance to talk to Balogun to decide the next course of action, but the route through the NCAA has been exhausted.
Balogun can re-enter the court system in hopes of gaining a permanent injunction barring the NCAA’s action, but that would leave Oklahoma in danger of forfeiting any games in which Balogun played under by-law 19.7. Glass said that would entail a process that might end before next season in hopes that Balogun could take a redshirt option and possibly play in 2010, although that course of action might not be available under NCAA guidelines.
Balogun’s other option would be to abandon any further pursuit of playing again, seek a trainer and try and prepare for possible tryouts with NFL teams
No doubt you’ve read online or heard the talking heads yaking on about how Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford “left millions on the table” by not entering last spring’s NFL draft.
And now, see? What did he get for coming back? He got hurt. Na-na-na-na-na, we told you so!
Shut up.
Bradford is going to be fine. And would have been fine even if he would have had to have surgery to repair the AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Didn’t seem to affect the career of quarterback Eli Manning, who came back from a similar injury in the season-opener against Dallas and didn’t miss a game on the way to leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win two years ago. As Manning pointed out over the phone to Bradford on Sunday.
And as for costing himself a small fortune in the draft? Bunk. At least that’s the opinion of former Dallas Cowboys vice president Gil Brandt, whose approach and establishment of a scouting network revolutionized the way the NFL approached the draft.
“I was one of the ones encouraging him to stay in school,” Brandt said over the phone the other day. “And immediately now people are saying if he would have come out he would have gotten this money and so forth.
“That’s somewhat true. But if he’s healthy and he gets picked in the same place he did last year, he will get more this year than he would have if he would have come out last year.”
This from a guy who actually knows what he’s talking about, not some mouth or dot.com guru who has never had a whistle around his neck.
Recall that Bradford himself pointed out his decision to return had nothing to do with money.
“I think one of (the pros of coming back was) getting to go through another year of college. You only get to go to college one time and I’m having a blast right now. I’m living my dream. I dreamed of playing at Oklahoma. That’s something I want to do, and want to continue to do.”
The only initial consequence--which could eventually be negated if Bradford’s prognosis of a two to four-week return is right on--is that it has cost him some game experience. And that was one of Brandt’s points to Bradford. He explained if you track the success of quarterbacks who came out early against those who stayed and played--those to came to the NFL with 40 or so starts behind them-- it’s easy to see that more experience means a greater chance of success.
Bradford has 28 starts and a half-game in his resume, 575 completions in 838 passes thrown.
Brandt said the fact that Bradford played at OU is also in his favor.
“Think how much emphasis Oklahoma has put on the passing game,” Brandt said. “And Oklahoma doesn’t win all those games by accident. They do a really good job of coaching those guys. The quarterback coach (Josh Heupel) is really good.
Oklahoma All-America tight end Jermaine Gresham will undergo arthroscopic surgery today to determine the extent of the cartilage damage in his injured right knee, coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday.
According to Stoops, three MRIs did not reveal the extent of the damage and that necessitated the arthroscopic procedure.
The lawyer for Oklahoma’s Mike Balogun said Friday morning he has been notified the NCAA amateurism certification staff will make a decision on his client's eligibility today, but he is not optimistic the news will be good.
In fact, just the opposite.
"I am confident they will not certify him," attorney Woody Glass said. "If [the staff] was going to certify him, they would have done it a long, long time ago."
At issue is whether Balogun, 25, competed in amateur football after turning 21, which would cost him a
year of eligibility and make him ineligible this season.
Friday's decision will not, however, be final unless Balogun is re-certified.
“The amateurism staff will submit their proposed findings of fact supporting their decision,” Glass explained. “They will request a response from [Oklahoma] and Mike to agree with their proposed findings.
“If we cannot agree, we will submit our proposed findings of fact. The two position statements will then be submitted to a fact finding committee that will resolve the factual issues. Once the factual issues are decided, the case gets submitted to the Amateurism Certification Committee for decision.”
Oklahoma All-America tight end Jermaine Gresham will miss Saturday's season-opening game against BYU because of a knee injury that could have further consequences.
Coach Bob Stoops acknowledged Thursday afternoon that Gresham suffered cartilage damage in his right knee this week and was being evaluated further. Stoops said Gresham, team doctors and the training staff are considering options "that could have a bearing on his return."
Gresham, who did not enter last spring's NFL Draft in order to return for his senior season, is a key player in the Sooners' offense. He caught 66 passes for 950 yards and scored 14 touchdowns as a junior.
Apparently, Gresham's loss will not affect cross-trained tight end Brody Eldridge's move to center. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Flower Mound sophomore James Hanna and sophomore Trent Ratterree will head Saturday's TE depth chart.
The attorney for Oklahoma linebacker Mike Balogun said Wednesday morning that although he is aggravated by the process, he still believes the NCAA will re-certify his client to play football this season.
“I’m frustrated that it’s taken this long and continue to press toward a deadline that we believed would concur with my agreement to suspend the [civil court] hearing on a permanent injunction,” Woody Glass said after two full days with an NCAA investigator in the Maryland area. “That has yet to occur. But I still feel confident based on everything that has happened that Mike will be certified -- sooner hopefully than later.”
Balogun’s certification was pulled Aug.14 by the NCAA, which believed
that he played in an amateur football league after his 21st
birthday despite subsequent mounting evidence to the contrary. Balogun is not scheduled to travel with the Sooners for Saturday's season-opening game against BYU in Arlington. A temporary injunction has allowed him to continue to practice, but Oklahoma apparently has made a decision not to play Balogun unless he is re-certified.
The 25-year-old Balogun’s contention is that he did not play in the North American Football League after Sept. 28, 2004.
Glass said he was notified Friday that he would be included in the latest interview process and flew to Maryland on Sunday night. He said he was returning to Oklahoma on Wednesday and was frustrated because only one interview was conducted.
“Because of some confidentiality that I have agreed to with the NCAA, I cannot discuss at this time what the content of the [interview] was,” Glass said. “But I think that people can read into that, that I still feel confident that Mike will be certified.”
After going through a gazillion pages today of a copy of the petition filed Tuesday by Norman, Okla., attorney Woody Glass on behalf of Oklahoma linebacker Mike Balogun, I’m puzzled.
Those who know me will tell you that’s not unusual. And the fact that we’re now dealing with both the legal community and the historically foggy-minded NCAA further complicates the matter. Or does it?
What we know is that Balogun has been granted an injunction enjoining the NCAA from decertifying his eligibility and allowing him to practice pending a hearing in a Norman civil court next Monday. All this is tied to the NCAA’s apparent new belief (after twice certifying Balogun eligible both for last season and a bowl game) that he played for what has been called a semi-professional football team after his 21st birthday, which would have been Sept. 28, 2004.
The source of contention is an NCAA bylaw that states “any participation as an individual ... in organized sports competition ... during each 12-month period after (his/her) 21st birthday and prior to initial full-time enrollment in a collegiate institution shall constitute a year of varsity competition in that sport.”
Thus, the contention that Balogun doesn’t have a second year to play for OU.
I’m told -- and the petition states -- that the august body became re-concerned after receiving an email from a compliance person at Florida State who heard about the 25-year-old Balogun’s non-school football participation on the telecast of the BCS Championship game. Every reporter on the OU beat had previously written about that and this was something the NCAA knew about when it had previously certified him to play.
This was the genesis for this new inquiry? Good grief!
OK, after coming in off the ledge, I’m quoting from the filed writ:
“During this (new) investigation, the NCAA was provided information from OU in February and March 2009 that indicated that OU had contacted (former Maryland Marauders’ assistant coach Dennis) Felton and that Felton believed that Balogun had played for the Marauders from 2004 through 2006.”
(Felton's statement was not a sworn document. Balogun enrolled at Lackawana Junior College in Pennsylvania in June, 2006.)
“However, OU also provided the NCAA with information including signed and sworn affidavits from Balogun and Gary Rice, the owner of the Marauders from 2003 to 2005. These affidavits included information consistent with the information previously provided by Balogun to the NCAA Eligibility Center. In addition, the information and affidavits provided confirmed that Balogun did not play football with the Marauders or any other NAFL team after he reached the age of 21. At this time, OU restated its reasonable belief that Balogun was certified and classified as a junior with one year of eligibility remaining.”
No longer quoting now, it should be noted before the next section of the document that the NAFL Web site lists Balogun as recovering a fumble in an account of the 2005 championship game. The story is not out of a newspaper and apparently was written by the father of the kicker for the victorious West Side Saints.
Quoting again:
“In addition, the NCAA and the NCAA Eligibility Center were provided information concerning OU’s discussions with Terry Sullivan, a former commissioner of the NAFL. Sullivan advised OU that the NAFL’s rosters, the numbers assigned to players as stated on the Internet Web sites and other information listed on the Internet Web sites concerning the NAFL is often inaccurate. Sullivan stated that he personally reviewed the files of the NAFL and did not find any information that suggested that Balogun participated in the league after he attained the age of 21. Sullivan also stated that based on discussions he had with others in the NAFL, those persons were of the opinion that Balogun played in the NAFL for approximately one (calendar) year (summers of 2003-2004) and did not play after his 21st birthday.”
End quote. The petition also notes that Balogun was born Sept.28, 1983 and that he was 17 when he graduated from Upper Marlboro (Md.) High School in May of 2001. And that he was 19 and 20 when he played two seasons in the NAFL. He would not have turned 21 then until September of 2004, after the conclusion of his second season with the Marauders if you believe the former owner and former commissioner.
Further consider that Balogun -- gainfully employed at the time -- did not receive any compensation. That the league was an amateur league (which it now clearly identifies itself) and that Balogun paid his own expenses while playing, including lodging, meals and transportation. He also paid a “referee” fee, apparently a player-supported pool to pay game officials.
As a way of background, I’m told that Glass -- Balogun’s attorney -- has an excellent reputation and is not likely to participate in a frivolous filing. In other words, he’s not likely to hang his fanny over the campfire if he’s not wearing fire-retardant britches. Which would lead me to believe that he has impressed on Balogun the hard-line view the legal system takes toward those who are not truthful in sworn testimony, which is what an affidavit is.
I talked to Glass briefly this afternoon. He said it was in Balogun's best interest that his case be stated in court Monday and he declined further comment.
In my opinion, it’s a good thing this thing is in the legal system. For the most part, courts seem to be heavily impressed with documentation and precedent, which the Balogun team seems to have stacked up against an unsworn recollection and a Web site account that certainly could be questioned.
So what is the civil court judge likely to do Monday? From where I stand, it looks like sworn documentation lines up with Balogun’s team, and the Sooners.
Texas A&M was just 9-for-25 from the field in the first half, had five shots blocked and took more than four minutes to get on the scoreboard, yet the Aggies are still down just five points to No. 6 Oklahoma at halftime at Reed Arena.
The Sooners raced to a 19-6 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, but Josh Carter hit a couple of 3-pointers to help revive A&M's offense. The Aggies gradually chipped away at the lead, closing to 30-25 on Chinemelu Elonu's first points -- a traditional 3-point play -- with 1:10 left. A&M had a chance to get closer but Donald Sloan traveled with 2.5 seconds left.
Blake Griffin has eight points and four rebounds for Oklahoma, followed by Willie Warren and Austin Johnson with six points each. Carter leads the Aggies with eight points and four rebounds.
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