After the 2003 high school football season, Grand Prairie quarterback Rhett Bomar had the world at his fingertips.
The son of a coach, Bomar had it all. He was the fourth-ranked player in the country regardless of position, and the top-rated quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com. He had offers from every big-time school you could think of: Oklahoma, Texas, Florida State, Michigan and UCLA among others.
After signing with Oklahoma, Bomar became the starting quarterback by the Sooners' second game of the 2005 season and ended up being a sparkplug for the previously quarterback-starved team. He was even named the MVP of the 2005 Holiday Bowl, when Oklahoma beat Oregon.
Then, all hell broke loose for Bomar and the Sooners.
On August 2, 2006, just weeks before the season was supposed to start for the highly-ranked Sooners, Bomar was dismissed from the program by head coach Bob Stoops along with offensive lineman J.D. Quinn after the two accepted money they didn't work for from Big Red Sports and Imports, a car dealership in Norman owned by an Oklahoma donor.
As the Tulsa World reported recently, that decision could've lost Bomar a fortune.
The Kansas City Star even went as far as to say the best is ahead of Bomar, after being selected in the fifth round of last weekend's NFL draft by the New York Giants (151st overall).
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And it's not an impossible scenario to believe, because one thing's for sure, Bomar can play.
Sure, in New York, he'd have to supplant Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, who's had his ups and downs as the Giants' quarterback, but he can definitely still play, and he showed that after transferring from OU to Sam Houston State after serving his 12-month suspension from NCAA competition.
Bomar left Sam Houston State as the program's all-time leading passer after two seasons as a Bearkat, and was even named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the best player in Division I-AA, which is Division I's equivalent of the Heisman.
He's shown remorse and seems to acknowledge his mistakes. Now, he has a chance to make people forget about them.
Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. He's addicted to Mafia Wars.
