Tilting at Windmills

WCCO-TV in Minneapolis is reporting that Brett Favre will don the purple and gold at the Homer Dome.

That source said that Favre and the Vikings have indeed come to a contractual agreement, with heavy incentives. The Vikings equipment manager has already ordered number 4 purple jerseys with his name on it.

Favre will be competing against playing ahead of the lethal combo of Tavaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels and Jon David Booty (who will have to give up his #4). One of those guys probably has to go, too, and my money’s on Jackson. Seriously, Childress … you’re telling me there wasn’t a SINGLE quarterback in the NFL better than this poor excuse for a clipboard-holder the past two years?

What does this mean for us Sooner fans? AD finally has some help. It may not be the greatest help. The help might be 60 years old and keep a vicodin Pez dispenser in its sock. The help might throw into triple coverage late in a tight game. But, the help will at least make defenses respect the pass a LITTLE. You know AD had it in his head to win games by himself when he saw Jackson, Gus Frerotte and Seneca frickin Wallace lining up ahead of him.

Green Bay is at Minnesota on October 5, then host the Vikes on November 1. Get’cher popcorn.

Atlantasooner already wrote an excellent piece on the kid they’re calling the number one ranked QB in the state of Texas for 2010 class, Connor Wood, who has chosen Tex-mex over titles. Wood’s choices came down to OU and TX, and apparently seeing the relative talent levels coming into both programs, figured he would have an easier time starting over the other two Texas quarterbacks the Horns have signed.

Atlanta makes a salient point about OU not necessarily needing Texas prep phenom quarterbacks in order to succeed:

Actually, UT might have done OU a favor. OU seems to have far more success under Bob when they don’t have a Texas kid at QB …

Let’s look at what Texans the Sooners have trotted out under center. OU’s had a couple (three, actually) of those jokers. One of them would probably be able to handle a little ribbing about being from the heart of Longhorn territory. The other two, screw em.

Call me if you decide you want a test drive.

Paul Thompson has to be one of the most unselfish, finest leaders the program has had. A superior, all-around athlete playing multiple positions for Leander HS, Thompson came to OU knowing he’d be third on the depth chart behind Jason White and Tommy Grady. After Jason graduated in 2004 and OU signed the only other Texas prep QB Stoops has started, Rhett Bomar, PT had to fight his way into an opening day starting job in 2005. His awful performance in a losing effort to TC-freaking-U (one of only two Stoops losses in Norman) was probably magnified by the fact he was following a guy who now has a statue outside the stadium. In that game, he gave way to the redshirt freshman Bomar, who was the number one quarterback in the nation coming out of high school. Thompson unselfishly agreed to move to receiver, another position he had previously played. He ended up catching 11 of Bomar’s passes for 106 yards, with 11 standing ovations from the Sooner faithful.

After Bomar’s crap got to be too much to stand, especially after bringing the NCAA to Norman, Thompson became OU’s starting quarterback in 2006. PT wasn’t the most talented QB Stoops has had by a long shot, but he was smart, made good decisions and was a true leader. He threw for almost 2,700 yards with a respectable 22 touchdowns and 11 picks. He saved one of his best games for the Big 12 championship, throwing for 265 yards and 2 TDs in a win over Nebraska.

Thank you for your service, PT.

Bomar and Adrian Peterson were the stars of the 2004 recruiting class. Bomar had the luxury of redshirting behind Jason in 2004, then was forced into duty after the aforementioned TCU debacle. Honestly, he wasn’t as bad as a lot have made him out to be. He threw for 2,018 yards and 10 TDs with 10 picks. He got to hand the ball to AD for most of the year (Peterson missed most or all of four games), which took some of the pressure off. He also made some dumbshit, freshman, WTF plays and was just terrible against Texas. He finished the year as the MVP of the Holiday Bowl and some had OU in the Top 5 the following preseason, based on Bomar and AD returning. Then, for some reason that escapes my memory, he was booted from the team and you saw Thompson do what he did in 2006.

The only other two Texans at quarterback for Stoops have been Hunter Wall, who in 2001 played in one game before being dismissed for burgling dope in 2002, and Hays McEachern, a walk-on UT legacy from Austin High School whose job was to placehold for Garrett Hartley in 2006. Hays almost cost OU the ’06 Big 12 championship that PT won, bobbling a snap on a field goal try and nearly throwing a pick in the ensuing chaos.

So, congratulations on another in-state quarterback get, Texas. I’m sure you guys will get along famously. OU’s already set their sights on Wichita (KS) signal-caller Blake Bell, who also has offers from the entire Big 12 North, Miami, Notre Dame and LSU. Stoops has won five Big 12 titles with quarterbacks from South Dakota, Georgia and Oklahoma. Odds are the man knows a little about scouting talent

Texas can have their February “win” again. We’ll take the trophies.