Oklahoma Football: The Top 5 Quarterbacks Under Bob Stoops

Bob Stoops came to Oklahoma in 1999 and turned around a program that hadn't posted a winning season in five years.

Every season since Stoops arrived has been a winning season and has produced some of the best quarterbacks in the school's prestigious history.

With Landry Jones poised to return for his senior campaign, where does he rank among Stoops' best quarterbacks?

5. Nate Hybl

Notable Accolades: 2003 Rose Bowl MVP and a short stint in the NFL.

I know what you're thinking—Nate Hybl? Really?

For all the flak he took, Hybl was actually a pretty solid quarterback who led the Sooners to a Big 12 Championship and consecutive bowl wins (including a 2003 Rose Bowl victory in which he was named the MVP).

Hybl was a highly recruited quarterback coming out of high school and originally enrolled at Georgia before transferring to Oklahoma in 1999.

He backed up starting quarterback Josh Heupel during the National Championship season in 2000 and took over as the starter in 2001.

While he was replaced by Jason White during the 2001 season after he went down with an injury during the Red River Rivalry, he eventually regained his starting position after White went down with knee injuries in 2001 and 2002.

After graduating, he bounced around between the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars during 2003 before calling it a career.

Nate Hybl was certainly not the greatest quarterback during the Bob Stoops era, but he was good enough to crack the top five.

4. Landry Jones

Notable Accolades: OU's all-time passing leader and touchdowns leader, and set the single-game passing record.

Landry Jones holds a whole bag full of Oklahoma's passing records, yet he ranks only fourth on the list of quarterbacks under Stoops?

When you look at the list of quarterbacks that have run the offense under Bob Stoops, it is quite the list of all-time great college quarterbacks.

Jones was thrust into action as just a redshirt freshman during the 2009 season when Sam Bradford went down with a shoulder injury in the very first game of the season.

Landry actually played very well for a freshman who had no idea he would be thrust into the spotlight so early on backing up the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.

He ended his freshman campaign throwing for more than 3,100 yards, 26 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and leading the Sooners to an 8-5 season capped off with a Sun Bowl victory over Stanford.

Jones continued to improve his sophomore year, throwing for 4,718 yards, 38 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 12-2 record capped off with a BCS bowl victory over Connecticut.

With a preseason No. 1 ranking heading into the 2011 season and a favorite to be a Heisman finalist, Jones appeared to be ready to finally push the Sooners over the edge and back into national title contention.

However, things didn't go so well for Jones, as he regressed in nearly every statistical category, ending the year a disappointing 10-3.

Jones still has one more year to improve his stock among the great quarterbacks under Stoops, but he's got a lot of work cut out for him if he expects to crack the top three.

3. Jason White

Notable Accolades: 2003 Heisman Trophy winner and led the Sooners to back-to-back National Championship games.

Jason White got his first taste of success in 2001 when Nate Hybl went down with an injury and White was thrust into action against the arch-rival Texas Longhorns.

White went 16-of-23 for 108 yards and led the Sooners to a 14-3 victory over the Longhorns.

He played so well in the process that he was named the starter for the remainder of the season even after Hybl recovered from injury.

One thing holding White back from being one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time was his body repeatedly failing him. During a showdown with Nebraska the very same year, White tore his ACL, sending him to the sidelines for the remainder of the season.

White hoped to bounce back in 2002 and once again beat out Nate Hybl for the starting quarterback position. In just the second game of the season, White went down again with an ACL tear in his other knee.

White—once known for his scrambling abilities and elusiveness—was now relegated to two bum knees and would never be the same athlete he once was.

Undeterred, White returned for the 2003 season as a pure pocket passer. He led the Sooners to the National Championship game and claimed the Heisman Trophy in the process.

After being granted a medical hardship for the 2004 season, White returned once again to lead the Sooners to their second straight National Championship appearance.

White even made a surge at becoming just the second player ever to win the Heisman Trophy twice, but ended up finishing third behind teammate Adrian Peterson and eventual winner Matt Leinart.

White will go down in the record books as one of the all-time great Sooners quarterbacks, but it's hard not to imagine what he might have been able to do on two good knees.

2. Josh Heupel

Notable Accolades: 2000 National Champion and placed second in the 2000 Heisman voting.

Let's be honest—Josh Heupel was not the most physically gifted quarterback to ever grace Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

What Heupel was able to accomplish, though, was leading the Sooners to their first National Championship in 15 years.

That feat alone places him near the top of my list.

Heupel began his collegiate career at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. He redshirted there for his first season in 1996 and saw limited playing time as a freshman in 1997.

He ended up transferring to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah after suffering an ACL injury at Weber State.

After a successful year at Snow College, Mike Leach recruited Heupel and eventually convinced him to come to Oklahoma.

Coming off of five straight seasons without a winning record, Bob Stoops was brought in as the new head coach and brought along a slew of assistant coaches and new recruits with him.

Heupel was given the reins to the offense in 1999 and led the Sooners to a 7-5 mark with some impressive victories and close losses along the way, giving great hope to Sooner nation that things were about to change.

In 2000, things changed.

Heupel and crew sliced through each and every opponent, culminating in an undefeated season and a 13-2 victory over Florida State in the Orange Bowl, claiming the schools seventh National Championship.

Where others have failed, Heupel succeeded, and for that he is No. 2 on my list of the best quarterbacks under Stoops.

1. Sam Bradford

Notable Accolades: 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, National Championship game appearance and set NCAA record for touchdown passes during the freshman/sophomore seasons.

Sam Bradford stands alone as the best quarterback under Bob Stoops' tutelage.

Coming into the 2007 season, the quarterback situation at Oklahoma was a mess.

Paul Thompson had been asked to return to quarterback duties the year before after Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team.

Reportedly six different players tried out for the vacant starting quarterback position in 2007, including true freshman Keith Nichol, junior Joey Halzle and redshirt freshman Sam Bradford.

Bradford ended up winning the starting job and immediately proved his worth.

He threw for more than 3,000 yards with 36 touchdowns to only eight interceptions during his first year under center. He led the Sooners to an 11-3 season, claiming a Big 12 title but ultimately ending in defeat to West Virgina in the Fiesta Bowl.

"Slingin' Sam" returned for his sophomore season with more poise and confidence, ready to lead the Sooners back to a National Championship.

He led the Sooners in one of the most explosive offenses to ever take the field. In 2008, the Sooners scored an NCAA-record 716 points and averaged 51.1 points per game.

While Bradford had many weapons at his disposal, there is no question he was the key ingredient to the offensive success.

Bradford would go on to win the 2008 Heisman Trophy and claim yet another Big 12 title and a spot in the National Championship game. The Sooners were narrowly edged out by a Tim Tebow-led Florida Gators squad in the title game.

Although he was projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft, Bradford elected to return to Oklahoma for one more shot at a title run. His final run was halted before it ever got going, as he went down with a shoulder injury in the very first game of the 2009 season.

Bradford went on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the St. Louis Rams, where he is currently the starting quarterback.

Bradford was the best quarterback that played not only under Bob Stoops, but one of the best the school has ever seen. It's a shame he wasn't able to remain healthy for a third season with the Sooners, but during the two years he was healthy, there wasn't a better quarterback in the land.