Football's Rite of Passage - The Oklahoma Drill
ESPN The Magazine|August 17,2015
The Oklahoma drill is a rite of passage, a revered test of will - and everything we've come to fear about football.
David Fleming
Football's Rite of Passage - The Oklahoma Drill

LIKE EVERY OTHER football player on the night before practice starts, Blake Bell is far too anxious to sleep. It’s a humid summer night almost exactly a year ago, and Bell is kept awake by the impending thunderclap of pads. After three seasons at quarterback for Oklahoma, including eight starts in 2013, the 6-foot-6, 259-pound Wichita native has converted to tight end for his final season. For years, he was protected from any contact in practice, but no longer. Bell remembers the night well: lying in bed, unable to escape the thought that in a few hours his future would be determined by a rare event a senior making his first attempt at the Oklahoma drill, a simple yet savage hitting exercise that signals the dawning of each new football season.

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