MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF
Drake Stoops was always `gonna find a way on the field' at OU
Drake Stoops isn't living out the dream of playing for the Sooners because of his last name
When Colin Roberts had his football players toe the line for 45-yard shuttles, he had a pretty good idea how the race was going to end. Drake Stoops would win. This wasn't guesswork for Roberts, then the strength and conditioning coach at Norman North High School. This was a near statistical certainty. Roberts charted the shuttle runs — 15 yards down, back and down again — and during Stoops' final three years of high school, he ran 504. He won 500.
“He was like a machine on those — bam, bam, bam,” said Roberts, now the strength and conditioning coach at Deer Creek.
“And he wasn't the fastest guy out there. But he was the most competitive.”
Roberts chuckled, remembering how players would occasionally try to beat Stoops.
“You'd see them, they'd stand by him,” Roberts said. “They were gonna give him their best shot.” Rarely worked.
That competitiveness, those close to Stoops say, has propelled him from a walk-on at OU to a starter for the Sooners. Two weeks ago, he made his first career start. A week ago, he had the biggest catch of his life, a touchdown in the fourth
overtime against Texas that was the game winner.
Yes, people are fascinated by his family legacy — he will never not be the son of legendary coach Bob Stoops — but Drake isn't living out the dream of playing for his hometown team because of his last name.
“Drake, he's a hard worker,” Sooner offensive lineman Tyrese Robinson said. “He comes to push.”
It has always been that way.
When he and twin brother Isaac were young, they spent hours on the backyard
trampoline catching passes from anyone who would throw them. Their mom. Their grandma. Their dad. The balls had to be lobbed over the netting, but the boys would dive and catch for as long as anyone would throw them.
As Drake got older, he didn't even need anyone to throw. He'd run routes by himself.
He worked out in pouring rain, burning hot, freezing cold.
“I just love football so unexplainably much,” Stoops said after the Texas game.
He wanted to play college football. Any program. Any level. But more than anything, he wanted to be good enough to play at OU.
Growing up in the shadow of the university planted the seed for a dream, but growing up a Stoops also provided a regular dose of reality. Drake didn't just go to games; he was in the locker room, at practice, in meetings. He knew the caliber of players at OU was high.
Could he ever be that good?
“It was just a dream of his to always be a part of that and play for his hometown,” said Brent Barnes, who coached at Norman North from 2010-17 and was head coach from 2015-17.
Barnes watched as recruiters from other schools came in and tried to woo Stoops. There were big programs.
There were small ones. But Stoops ultimately chose to walk on at OU.
Barnes always thought Stoops would earn a role with the Sooners. Might not happen right away. Might take some time. But the coach knew the kid's spirit, competitiveness and tenacity.
“He's gonna find a way on the field,” Barnes said. “You're not going to keep him off.”
Stoops knew it was possible, too. He had seen a couple other Norman North players walk on and become contributors. Jaxon Uhles did it. So did Nick Basquine.
They turned down scholarship offers elsewhere, Uhles even leaving Pittsburg State after a year to transfer to OU. They believed in their abilities, taking a chance on themselves, then making good on it as Sooners.
“It really meant something to them to play there, to be a Norman kid playing on that field, in that stadium with those fans,” Barnes said. “Drake's just another one of those guys.
“He just never really wanted to leave. It was always for him about just being home.” In Norman.
At OU.
Didn't matter if he had to be a walk-on, playing on the scout team, fighting for a chance.
“He's one kid that I would never bet against on really anything if it came down to just drive,” said Roberts, the strength and conditioning coach.
Charlie Kolar would agree.
Now a tight end at Iowa State and a top NFL prospect at his position, he was a year ahead of Stoops at Norman North. Kolar was one of those guys who would stand by Stoops during the shuttle runs, trying to challenge and beat him.
“I was pretty good at them,” Kolar said of the drill. “I was in pretty good shape. I thought I worked pretty hard.
“But … I could not beat Drake.”
A few weeks ago at Iowa State, Kolar caught up with Stoops on the field after the Cyclones had beaten the Sooners. Kolar had wanted his teammates to shut down the OU offense, and that included Stoops. But after the game, Kolar wanted Stoops to know how happy he was for him, how proud he was. The respect runs deep. “He knows that because of his last name,” Kolar said, “he's got a spotlight on him.
“For years, he's worked like he's a nobody.”