MIAMI — For those Colorado fans who dream of how the five-win Buffaloes would have done with an offensive line not plagued by injury and inexperience this past season, watch the Bowl Championship Series title game Thursday between Oklahoma and Florida. Then get ready for a good cry.
Anchoring Oklahoma (12-1), the highest-scoring team since 1904, are two senior offensive linemen from Colorado who could easily have been Buffaloes. Think CU could have used Jon Cooper of Fort Collins High School, this season’s Big 12 offensive lineman of the year?
How would Cody Hawkins have enjoyed being protected by a 6-foot-8, 337-pound left tackle? Phil Loadholt, a third-team All-American from Fountain-Fort Carson High School, merely helped quarterback Sam Bradford win the 2008 Heisman Trophy.
That’s what happens when your line gives up only 11 sacks — third-fewest in the nation behind Air Force and Navy, two schools that don’t throw unless it’s third-and-a par 5.
Cooper, rated the No. 6 center in the nation by in high school, considered staying in Colorado but OU showed interest before CSU, and the Buffaloes were going through recruiting restrictions under former coach Gary Barnett.
“Colorado was going through a tough time,” Collins said during Monday’s media day at Dolphin Stadium. “I went on multiple unofficial visits. I felt bad for them because the coaches and players were all good people and they didn’t deserve it.”
Asked if he would have signed with the Buffs if controversy hadn’t hovered over CU’s program, Cooper said, “Yeah, I might have.”
Loadholt, a two-time all-state pick at Fountain-Fort Carson, actually committed to Barnett and CU. Unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly as committed to academics and wound up at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. By the time he left junior college in 2007, Barnett and his staff were long gone.
Yeah, sure, it’s a stretch. But what would CU have looked like with Loadholt anchoring one side of the line and the 6-7, 315-pound five-star recruit, Ryan Miller, anchoring the other?
What the Buffs missed were two players whose perseverance off the field has made them special on it. Cooper overcame an ankle injury so colossal, doctors said he never would play again. Loadholt rearranged his priorities and for a Christmas present last month, he received his bachelor’s degree.
Cooper never should have seen his sophomore year as a Sooner. Playing as a true freshman in 2005, Cooper’s ankle got caught on Texas Tech’s turf field. He separated the ankle and tore nearly every ligament in it.
Doctors said the good news was he would be able to walk. The bad news? He wouldn’t be able to run well enough to play.
“I was crushed, absolutely crushed,” he said. “At first, it kind of hit me: ‘Wow, I might not.’ But then, ‘Naw, I have to.’ There was nothing holding me back.”
He rehabbed three times a day and even when everyone expected him to redshirt in 2006, he started 13 of 14 games. Since then, he has been the mainstay of arguably the best line in the country.
“Jon’s been a great, great leader,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s been the glue in that offensive line. He’s just a tough guy, to battle back from that like he has. This is probably the first year that he has felt good.”
Who knows where Loadholt would be today if people like Fountain-Fort Carson coach Mitch Johnson hadn’t steered him in the right direction, first to Garden City. With his long, braided hair and tree-trunk arms covered in tattoos, Loadholt even stands out on a football field.
How would he stand out if today he was walking the streets?
“(School) wasn’t high on my priority list,” Loadholt said. “Sad to say it wasn’t. I learned it’s very important. I went from a very poor high school student to a college graduate.”
He learned a lot on the field too. West Virginia’s defensive line burned him repeatedly in Oklahoma’s stunning loss in last year’s Fiesta Bowl. This season, he tied for the team’s top blocking grade at 85 percent.
“I take the whole offensive line for granted sometimes the way they’ve played this year,” Bradford said. “It’s the other reason why this offense has been so successful.”
