Gods & Gridiron

To Oklahoma football, Coach Russell Burke exists as Mount Rushmore made flesh. Such a status makes easing into retirement after a half-century in the University of Oklahoma athletic department very delicate. He carefully planned his transition out of the coaching job by grooming the right successor and shaping the transition so skillfully, spectators are halfway convinced he’s a deity. But in the last year Burke walks the sidelines at Owen Field, he’s faced with the strangest quarterback controversy. Brad Oakes, a Heisman-winner who left for the battlefield of Afghanistan, isn’t letting the resulting amputation prevent his comeback. Before even completing rehab, Brad is filing a medical hardship waiver with the NCAA, which incredibly, reinstates his eligibility. Brad returns to Oklahoma with his own god-like reputation, but some biblical baggage could undermine him. The below-the-knee amputation has left him with a hysterical problem, freshly-exposed nerve endings that leave a sensitive new erogenous zone.