Brafford joins three other former West Virginia runners now with the Sooners in Jefferson's Eric Graf and Brandon Doughty, and Cabell Midland graduate Jacob Burcham.
My full article on Brafford's signing will run in Thursday's The Charleston Daily Mail and should be posted on the paper's website soon. In the meantime, below I've posted some additional quotes from my interviews with Brafford, Brafford's high school cross country coach Nick Bias and Brafford's OU teammate Burcham.
Matt
Brafford
-on feeling welcomed by the Oklahoma coaching staff
“Just talking to the coaches, they were all
very supportive of the idea of me going there. They acted like they wanted me
there. They said they would work personally with me and get to know me, make
sure I succeed both athletically and academically.”
-on joining such a prestigious running program
“It means a lot to me, just because being around
here there’s not a whole lot or runners of that caliber and to go to a school
that has a whole team full of them that are all dedicated to running and care
about the sport.”
-on the West Virginia pipeline of runners to Oklahoma
“It just shows that their program is fit for
the type of runners West Virginia runners are and they can adapt to whatever
terrain it is out there.”
-on becoming teammates with Burcham, his former running rival in West Virginia
“It’s going to be a change because we’ve
always been competing. For three years, we were competing against each other
and we’re finally going to be on the same team and running for the same school.
It’s going to be a change, but I think it’s going to be really nice because
when we were on our visit we got along great and we just acted like we were
part of the team.”
-more on his decision to pick Oklahoma over schools like Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Tulsa and Colorado School of Mines
“Just talking to the coaches there and just seeing
how happy Eric and Jacob and Brandon were there and just being introduced to
the whole team. That was one of the things that really stood out to me. They
had an indoor track meet while I was there and after the meet they had a team
meeting in the weight room. The coach introduced me to the whole team. I was
standing outside the door as they were leaving and almost all of them
introduced themselves to me and said they look forward to having me there. That’s
one of the things that stood out to me, because everyone was just so welcoming
and nice to me.”
Nick
Bias
-on significance of Brafford's signing
“Being his coach this year, obviously I’m
grinning ear to ear. He’s a great kid, wonderful kid. He definitely deserves
it. He works extremely hard. I’ve said before in the past, he’s the epitome of
student-athlete. That’s Matthew Brafford. I think he’s done an excellent job of
running, but I also think he’s going to do a great job in academics as well.”
-on prestige of Oklahoma's running program
“Oklahoma, they’re a top 25 program as far as
cross country goes.”
Jacob
Burcham
-on significance of having so many West Virginia runners at a top-tier program like Oklahoma
“Hopefully, it will get West Virginia more on
the map, on the running scene at least as far as for high school track and
field and cross country. We establish the state as a running state and it will
attract more talent. It will be good for the sport.”
