Brafford signs with Oklahoma

George Washington's Matthew Brafford, West Virginia's top high school boys distance runner, signed to run both men's cross country and track with the University of Oklahoma at GW on Wednesday morning.

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.”