By Cody Stark
This past season, the Sam Houston State football team was making headlines across the country, and it had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
All the attention swirled around former Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar and his decision to transfer to SHSU on Aug. 28 after being dismissed from the Sooners program because of an NCAA violation.
He and former Sooners teammate J.D. Quinn were dismissed from Oklahoma on Aug. 3 after a university investigation revealed both had received pay for hours not worked at a Norman, Okla., car dealership.
After looking around some, Bomar decided to go the Division I-AA route because he would have had to sit out a year on top of the suspension he received had he transferred to another I-A school.
“It was a tough decision. I considered everything — Division I, Division I-AA and things like that — but based on waiting for the NCAA to make a decision, I just wanted to play some football this year,” Bomar said the day he enrolled at SHSU.
Bomar considered transferring to several universities, including the University of Houston, Stephen F. Austin and North Texas, but in the end SHSU was the school that landed the nation’s top recruit in 2004.
Unfortunately for the Bearkats, Bomar never stepped on the field this fall because the NCAA suspended him for the season on Nov. 1. The NCAA reinstatement staff ruled that Bomar had to sit out a season, lose a year of eligibility and pay back thousands of dollars in improper pay as part of being reinstated.
“I am happy to get this behind me,” Bomar said in a prepared statement released by the SHSU athletics department. “I look forward to having the opportunity to represent Sam Houston State.
“Right now my top priority is seeing this team win some football games. This decision today will help take the focus off me and put the focus on the team.”
Bomar was a top-rated recruit out of Grand Prairie High School. He took a redshirt in 2004, then started Oklahoma’s final 11 games in 2005 and set a Sooner freshman passing record with 2,018 yards. He also threw 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, guiding Oklahoma to six wins over the final seven games, including a Holiday Bowl victory over Oregon.
Another factor that drew Bomar to Huntsville was the Bearkats’ successful history of transfer quarterbacks. Josh McCown left Southern Methodist and led the Kats to a Southland Conference title in 2001. He also was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and is currently playing for the Detroit Lions.
Dustin Long also led SHSU to a conference title and into the semifinals of the I-AA playoffs in 2004. He set an SLC single-season record for passing yards (4,588) and touchdowns (39) in his only season with the Bearkats.
Chris Chaloupka transferred from Oklahoma State and was named Southland Conference Player of the Year in 1999.
“You look at (Long and McCown) and see all the success they had in just one year,” Bomar said. “I could play this year and then would have two more years at Sam. They had a lot of success, and it was in basically this same system. That was something I looked at when I was making my decision.”
Even though Bomar didn’t get to play in 2006, he got a lot of valuable work in during practice. He had the chance to learn the SHSU system and become familiar with his teammates and coaching staff.
Now, he just has to wait until spring drills roll around to get his chance to lead the Bearkat football squad.
“Rhett has fit in well with the team here at Sam Houston,” Bearkats coach Todd Whitten said after receiving news of the NCAA’s suspension. “Obviously, we would have liked for him to be able to play in games this season. But with his experience working with the squad this fall and spring training ahead next year, we look forward to having him as a Bearkat for the next two seasons.”
