Sam Bradford

As of Wednesday night, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez appeared headed for the NFL. What he does after talking with Trojans Coach Pete Carroll will be known this morning. Sanchez is scheduled to hold a news conference at USC's Heritage Hall, and unless he changes his plans he is expected to announce that he will enter April's NFL draft.

Three quarterbacks in the first four picks of next month's draft? Four first-round choices from Alabama, and three each from Stanford and Louisiana State? And the rarity of as many first-round guards (two) as tackles? That's the way Times' NFL writer Sam Farmer sees it. Here's how he thinks the opening round could go: 1. Indianapolis: QB Andrew Luck, Stanford — The Colts have made some noise recently about considering Robert Griffin III, but this pass has been telegraphed for months.

— Answering the bell is no problem for Sam Bradford, preparing for Round 2 of his NFL career. Answering to the beeper, though, is a different story. The St. Louis Rams quarterback is looking to build on his spectacular debut, a season that earned him NFL offensive-rookie-of-the-year honors. Now, he's learning a new offense — without the benefit of a structured off-season — and waiting for Coach Steve Spagnuolo to break out the beeper. That's a timer that sits just behind the offense in seven-on-seven drills and gives Bradford precisely 2.7 seconds to get rid of the ball before a loud beep sounds, signaling he's been sacked.

From Tampa, Fla. The professor sits alone in his darkened office, hunkered over the glowing screen of his laptop. His granny glasses, the only sign that the onetime boy wonder has truly aged, hang precariously on the tip of his nose. It's Sunday morning at 7 a.m., and former NFL coach Jon Gruden is waiting in his makeshift office for his star student of the day, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Every wall is lined floor to ceiling with videotapes, a Library of Congress-worthy collection of blitzes, protections, routes, goal-line plays, Hail Marys - everything, spanning at least five decades.

1. With the first pick in the 2010 NFL draft, the St. Louis Rams select, as expected, Sam Bradford , quarterback from Oklahoma. Bradford, 6 feet 4, 218 pounds and the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, started all 31 games in which he appeared for the Sooners, setting school records by completing 67.64% of his passes (604-of-893) for 8,403 yards and 88 touchdowns. Considering Blake Griffin is also from Oklahoma, it marks the second time both the NFL and NBA top picks come from the same school.

A quarterback will be the first player selected in this week's NFL draft, but this could be remembered as the year of big men, blind-side blockers, and (attempted) bailouts. Whereas the St. Louis Rams already might have stitched the name of Sam Bradford on a No. 1 jersey, there's a decent chance the Oklahoma quarterback is the only skill-position player to go in the top 10. The top of the draft, which begins Thursday, will be dominated by 300-pounders on the defensive and offensive lines, and there could be a run on offensive tackles that rivals the flurry of 2008, when teams grabbed seven of them in the first round.

Is Flipper Anderson or Lawrence Taylor available? The St. Louis Rams return to New Jersey to face their 0-1 counterpart New York Giants, 21 years after the franchises' classic overtime playoff game in which Anderson caught the winning pass and maintained his sprint toward a Meadowlands tunnel, bumping past a fat man wearing a stocking cap. As the series resumes Monday night at MetLife Stadium, both teams are staggered by injuries and a...

Standing before a crowd of reporters, not to mention a national television audience, Matt Barkley explained that his heart told him to stick around for one more season of college football. But even as the USC quarterback made his big announcement Thursday, he acknowledged putting his future on hold. "I am prepared to play quarterback in the NFL," he said. "It is my dream to play quarterback in the NFL. " Which raises an important question: How might this immediate decision affect his long-term plans?

Max Hall threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to McKay Jacobson in the back of the end zone with 3 minutes 3 seconds left, giving No. 20-ranked Brigham Young a 14-13 victory over No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday night in front of 75,437 at Cowboys Stadium. The Sooners' last hope to recover ended when Tress Way came up short on a 54-yard field goal with 1:23 to play. Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford, the Heisman Trophy winner last season, sprained his throwing shoulder when he was tackled by linebacker Coleby Clawson in the closing seconds of the first half.

norman, okla. -- Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford wasn't sure how his injured shoulder would hold up to a full day's work. After 49 throws in No. 19 Oklahoma's 33-7 win against Baylor on Saturday, Bradford is ready for next week's rivalry game against No. 2 Texas in Dallas. "I think that's something that we were all curious around here is how I would react to 3 1/2 -4 hours in my pads, on and off, not throwing the whole time, kind of sitting on the bench, coming back and making some throws," Bradford said.

Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, this town is big enough for both of them. For the moment. But come April 26, the first day of the NFL draft, Stanford's Luck and Baylor's Griffin — the top two quarterbacks at the scouting combine this week — will head in different directions to begin their pro careers. In a league so focused on passing, they are the shiny superstars in the making, players likely to be inexorably linked as the first quarterbacks to go 1-2 in the draft in more than a decade.

Standing before a crowd of reporters, not to mention a national television audience, Matt Barkley explained that his heart told him to stick around for one more season of college football. But even as the USC quarterback made his big announcement Thursday, he acknowledged putting his future on hold. "I am prepared to play quarterback in the NFL," he said. "It is my dream to play quarterback in the NFL. " Which raises an important question: How might this immediate decision affect his long-term plans?

The moment that Robert Griffin III stepped to the podium Saturday night to receive the Heisman Trophy, greeted by a contingent of past winners, the Baylor quarterback automatically became eligible for membership in another sort of club. Not that he wants to join it. No player does. It is the society of Heisman flops. Scroll down the long and prominent list — Pat Sullivan, Jason White, Eric Crouch, et al. — of men who stood on college football's highest pedestal only to crash and burn as pros.

False start, Miami Dolphins. You built an 11-point lead against the New York Giants on Sunday, made it look as if you would win your first game, then collapsed to lose, 20-17. False start, Arizona Cardinals. You frittered away a three-touchdown lead at Baltimore, giving everyone the impression you would finally win a road game. The Ravens rallied to win, 30-27, the biggest comeback in their history, and the Cardinals picked up their 11th consecutive loss away from home. False start, Denver Broncos.

Tim Tebow's debut wasn't half-bad. It was more than three-quarters bad. But the Denver quarterback — each pass wobbling out of his hand like a waterlogged Nerf ball — somehow directed the Broncos to an 18-15 overtime victory at Miami on Sunday, reminding fans and critics alike that he simply knows how to win. "It's tough to say, but man, Timmy did a great job," said Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, who played with Tebow at Florida....

Is Flipper Anderson or Lawrence Taylor available? The St. Louis Rams return to New Jersey to face their 0-1 counterpart New York Giants, 21 years after the franchises' classic overtime playoff game in which Anderson caught the winning pass and maintained his sprint toward a Meadowlands tunnel, bumping past a fat man wearing a stocking cap. As the series resumes Monday night at MetLife Stadium, both teams are staggered by injuries and a...

Call it six degrees of Sam Bradford's third-degree shoulder separation. Last Saturday's injury to Oklahoma's starting quarterback, who threw 50 touchdowns last year on his way to the Heisman Trophy, did more than damage the Sooners' chances of winning this year's national title. The tenuous connection of Bradford's AC joint is also hooked to the hopes and dreams of other championship contenders. How long Bradford will be out, when he returns, and what kind of season-salvaging comeback he can mount could dictate who plays for this year's Bowl Championship Series title.

Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford each returned from injury Saturday. Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, played against Louisiana State after suffering a concussion against Kentucky on Sept. 26. Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, missed three games after suffering a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder during a loss to Brigham Young on Sept. 5. Tim Tebow, Sr. Quarterback, Florida > > > Completed 11 of 16 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown with an interception during Florida's 13-3 victory against LSU on Saturday.

Arian Foster says I am sick. And he didn't even go to UCLA. He's a very good football player, so of course he didn't go to UCLA. He plays for the Houston Texans, and on this day — the biggest, most exciting of the year — he's a problem. Today is fantasy football draft day in the SFL, and Foster is talking about his feelings being hurt, as if anyone in the SFL gives a hoot. It's his hamstring that matters, a whole season hanging in the balance. So is he still worthy of being the first, second or third back taken?

All around the NFL, coaches are looking for their quarterbacks to take some big steps backward. Only then can those players truly move forward. Teaching young NFL quarterbacks how to properly take a snap from center isn't a snap at all, coaches say, especially when those players have spent the bulk of their high school and college careers operating out of the shotgun formation. From coast to coast — from San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick to Carolina's Cam Newton — and a lot of places in between, quarterbacks are having to relearn their craft.