william_brasky
3/28/2006, 07:20 AM
NORMAN - He took the snap, faked the handoff, and then took off running. Not exactly the play-call Joey Halzle would have picked from the playbook, but considering he ended up in the end zone, things ended up pretty well.
“I’m more of a pocket passer than a runner,” said the Oklahoma quarterback, who transferred in from Golden West (Calif.) Community College in January. “Running - that’s not going to be my first choice. But if I have to tuck it and run and get a few yards, I’ll do it. I like a challenge.”
Obviously - and he’s not just talking about his 5-yard bootleg touchdown run in Saturday’s scrimmage. The real challenge Halzle is facing is trying to unseat quarterback Rhett Bomar, the Sooners’ returning starter who is just a sophomore.
Halzle (pronounced Halls-Lee) spent one year in junior college before picking OU over Michigan. As a freshman, he threw for 2,077 yards and 13 touchdowns. This spring, the main question the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder from Huntington Beach, Calif., has been fronted with is always the same: Why go to a team with a seemingly entrenched quarterback with three years of eligibility left?
“I knew they were moving Paul Thompson to receiver and needed another quarterback,” Halzle said. “I just felt like I could come out here and compete and do my best to get on the field. If you’re not doing that out here, you’re in the wrong sport.”
True enough, but is the 20-year-old content just being a part of a perennial national title contender, or is he in Norman to be the starting quarterback?
“Obviously, Rhett is a good player. He showed that last year,” Halzle said. “But I feel confident in my skills. I feel like if I do the best that I can I can give myself a good shot to get on the field.”
In his first OU scrimmage Saturday, Halzle showed that his confidence is well founded. The sophomore completed six of eight passes - with one of the incompletions being a drop - for 83 yards and scooted for the aforementioned TD. Bomar completed 10 of 19 for 106 yards and an interception.
“He came out here and was really sharp again (today),” OU coach Bob Stoops said after Monday’s practice. “He had an excellent scrimmage. For only (five) practices, what he’s been able to comprehend and the way he’s executed, he’s done a really nice job. We’re really pleased with how he’s playing.”
The rarely-shaven Halzle is a tad unorthodox, mechanically speaking, and his slight build doesn’t remind one of a major-college quarterback. But since football is not a beauty pageant, Halzle measures up fine.
“He looks weird in some things, but when you get him to play, he looks like a football player,” OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “Maybe it’s natural instinct. But he just seems to have a natural feel.”
The two people who see Halzle most - quarterback coach Josh Heupel and Bomar - have noticed a common strength.
“He’s a guy who, when you give him something, he has a tendency to pick up on it really quickly,” Heupel said. “It transfers from a piece of paper out to what you’re trying to accomplish on the field pretty quickly.”
Said Bomar: “If he has questions for me, I’ll help him out. But he’s a smart guy and he’s picked up the offense pretty good.”
Halzle said the biggest adjustment from junior-college football has been the speed of defenders.
“It’s still a little fast for him,” Wilson said. “He’s learning a lot and thinking a lot. But he just kind of looks like a quarterback once in a while. And he does some things you can’t coach. He has a long ways to go, but he shows some good promise.”
But enough promise to make a run at the starting spot?
“Nobody’s job is secure,” Heupel said. “I think competition is extremely important. If you want to push the guy you think is going to be the starter, you better have someone strong behind him. That’s a coach’s best friend. And Joey’s a guy who comes in here wanting to push for a starting job.”
“I’m more of a pocket passer than a runner,” said the Oklahoma quarterback, who transferred in from Golden West (Calif.) Community College in January. “Running - that’s not going to be my first choice. But if I have to tuck it and run and get a few yards, I’ll do it. I like a challenge.”
Obviously - and he’s not just talking about his 5-yard bootleg touchdown run in Saturday’s scrimmage. The real challenge Halzle is facing is trying to unseat quarterback Rhett Bomar, the Sooners’ returning starter who is just a sophomore.
Halzle (pronounced Halls-Lee) spent one year in junior college before picking OU over Michigan. As a freshman, he threw for 2,077 yards and 13 touchdowns. This spring, the main question the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder from Huntington Beach, Calif., has been fronted with is always the same: Why go to a team with a seemingly entrenched quarterback with three years of eligibility left?
“I knew they were moving Paul Thompson to receiver and needed another quarterback,” Halzle said. “I just felt like I could come out here and compete and do my best to get on the field. If you’re not doing that out here, you’re in the wrong sport.”
True enough, but is the 20-year-old content just being a part of a perennial national title contender, or is he in Norman to be the starting quarterback?
“Obviously, Rhett is a good player. He showed that last year,” Halzle said. “But I feel confident in my skills. I feel like if I do the best that I can I can give myself a good shot to get on the field.”
In his first OU scrimmage Saturday, Halzle showed that his confidence is well founded. The sophomore completed six of eight passes - with one of the incompletions being a drop - for 83 yards and scooted for the aforementioned TD. Bomar completed 10 of 19 for 106 yards and an interception.
“He came out here and was really sharp again (today),” OU coach Bob Stoops said after Monday’s practice. “He had an excellent scrimmage. For only (five) practices, what he’s been able to comprehend and the way he’s executed, he’s done a really nice job. We’re really pleased with how he’s playing.”
The rarely-shaven Halzle is a tad unorthodox, mechanically speaking, and his slight build doesn’t remind one of a major-college quarterback. But since football is not a beauty pageant, Halzle measures up fine.
“He looks weird in some things, but when you get him to play, he looks like a football player,” OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “Maybe it’s natural instinct. But he just seems to have a natural feel.”
The two people who see Halzle most - quarterback coach Josh Heupel and Bomar - have noticed a common strength.
“He’s a guy who, when you give him something, he has a tendency to pick up on it really quickly,” Heupel said. “It transfers from a piece of paper out to what you’re trying to accomplish on the field pretty quickly.”
Said Bomar: “If he has questions for me, I’ll help him out. But he’s a smart guy and he’s picked up the offense pretty good.”
Halzle said the biggest adjustment from junior-college football has been the speed of defenders.
“It’s still a little fast for him,” Wilson said. “He’s learning a lot and thinking a lot. But he just kind of looks like a quarterback once in a while. And he does some things you can’t coach. He has a long ways to go, but he shows some good promise.”
But enough promise to make a run at the starting spot?
“Nobody’s job is secure,” Heupel said. “I think competition is extremely important. If you want to push the guy you think is going to be the starter, you better have someone strong behind him. That’s a coach’s best friend. And Joey’s a guy who comes in here wanting to push for a starting job.”