Oklahoma QB White in no hurry to decide future
Norman, Okla. ? Jason White is more concerned with how Oklahoma finishes this season than his football future.
At every press conference since midseason, the senior quarterback has faced some variation of this inquiry: Will you seek a medical red shirt and return for a sixth year?
The most recent time came after what might have been White’s final game in Norman, a 41-3 rout of Baylor Saturday that clinched the top-ranked Sooners’ third Big 12 South Division title in four years.
White paused, rolled his eyes and then replied: “Like I’ve said a hundred other times, I’m going to wait until the end of the year to decide that.”
If Saturday was White’s last home game, he went out on a high note in a season full of them.
White, a product of nearby Tuttle, dutifully trotted to midfield to embrace his family and bask in the applause of grateful fans in the crowd of 82,117.
White threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns against the Bears, setting the school’s single-season record for touchdown passes with 36. That broke Josh Heupel’s mark of 33 in 1999.
But Sooner fans were disturbed at the sight of White sprawled on the ground again and again in the second half. He was sacked five times and knocked to the turf several other times as Oklahoma was held to a season-low seven points in the half.
Fans even started to boo after White was dropped twice during one particularly sloppy third quarter series.
“I took a few hits, but nothing that did any damage,” he said.
White was left in the game a little longer, though, as coaches hoped to end the game with some semblance of rhythm. It worked: White led the Sooners on a six-play, 48-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter that ended with Kejuan Jones’ one-yard touchdown run.
“You want to have your quarterback and your offensive guys leave on a good note,” offensive coordinator Chuck Long said. “We weren’t trying to pad anything. We were just trying to get something going.”
White sat out for the final 5:38 of the game and watched from the sideline with his helmet off. It recently has become a pretty familiar spot for him — he has missed 93 minutes and 50 seconds of game time because of the Sooners’ blowouts this season.
Then, at game’s end, White halfheartedly waved at the crowd on his way off the field. Whether it was a wave goodbye remains to be decided.

