Brian Bosworth - College Career

College Career

Bosworth attended the University of Oklahoma, where he played for coach Barry Switzer's Oklahoma Sooners football team from 1984 to 1986. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American in 1985 and again in 1986.

Known for his then radical hairstyles and criticism of the NCAA as much as his play on the field, Bosworth was never one to shy from publicity or controversy. On more than one occasion Bosworth referred to the NCAA as the "National Communists Against Athletes". He wore a shirt bearing that slogan during the 1987 Orange Bowl following the 1986 season. Banned from the game because of steroid use, Bosworth unveiled the shirt while standing on the sidelines to the shock and outrage of many, including his own coach, Switzer. While Switzer was known for running a loose ship, this incident was too much even for him, and he threw Bosworth off the team.

A strong side inside linebacker throughout his college career, Bosworth was known for raising his level of play in big games. He was regarded as a great tackler, though sometimes criticized for tackling too high. The winner of the first two Butkus Awards as the nation's top college linebacker, he remains the only player ever to have won the accolade more than once. College Football News named him #30 on its list of the "100 Greatest College Players of All-Time." In October 1999, Bosworth was named to the Sports Illustrated NCAA Football All-Century Team as one of only nine linebackers on the squad.

In addition to his athletic accomplishments, Bosworth was a very good student who graduated a year ahead of his freshman class, thus making him eligible for the NFL's supplemental draft.

When playing for Seattle, he flew into practice on a helicopter. Many television news stations all over America showed footage of the stunt.

In September 1988, Bosworth wrote an autobiography, The Boz, with Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly. In it, Bosworth said the Sooner program was laden with drug use, gunplay in the athletic dorm and other wild behavior. Although many Sooner boosters dismissed it as the rantings of a resentful ex-player, an NCAA report issued three months later revealed many of the same things Bosworth had written about, and ultimately led to Switzer being forced to resign.

Brian Bosworth, the All-American linebacker, and two of his University of Oklahoma teammates were barred from playing in the Orange Bowl game against Arkansas Jan. 1, 1987 because they tested positive for anabolic steroids. The ruling was made by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which instituted tests for some championship events and some football bowl games that year in an effort to prevent the use of more than a hundred banned generic drugs.