NORMAN, Okla. -- Three years removed from his decision to stay in school at Oklahoma after winning the Heisman Trophy, St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford still believes he made the right move.
And he's not about to question why current Sooners QB Landry Jones decided to follow in his footsteps.
"I know coming back was the complete right decision for me. There's no way I was ready to leave college after two and half years," Bradford said Wednesday during his youth football camp on the intramural fields at Oklahoma.
"Even though I came back and got hurt, the experience that I gained in that extra year was invaluable. There's no way I would have been able to step into an NFL huddle and lead an NFL team at 21 years old."
Bradford had just won the 2008 Heisman Trophy and led the Sooners to the national championship game during a record-setting offensive season when he decided to come back for another year in college.
Bradford missed most of the season after injuring his right throwing shoulder in an opening-season loss to BYU and Jones took over for him. Now, Jones is heading into his fourth season as a starter and erasing many of the career records Bradford set during his three years with the Sooners.
Because Bradford still works out in Norman during the offseason, he sees Jones a couple times a week and had a chance to counsel him on his choice to come back instead of entering this year's draft.
"Obviously, it was his decision. If he feels like he made the right decision, then he did," Bradford said. "I remember going through that process and people were telling me, 'You should leave,' or, 'You should stay.' At the end of the day, I was like, 'It doesn't matter what you think because you're not the one who is going to live it.' "
As for Bradford, he's adjusting to the Rams' new coaching staff after Jeff Fisher replaced Steve Spagnuolo as head coach. After being the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, Bradford had St. Louis one win away from the playoffs before losing to Seattle in the season finale. The Rams then went 2-14 last season.
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"The changes that have been made this year and in the offseason are definitely going to help us win games."
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
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