TEDDY LEHMAN WAS twice an All-American at Oklahoma. In 2003, the stout linebacker won the Big 12 defensive player of the year award, the Dick Butkus Award and the Chuck Bednarik Award. In 2004, he was a second-round NFL draft pick, and he went on to spend parts of six seasons with the Lions, Buccaneers, Bills and Jaguars.
But the moment he’s best known for, the moment he spends each October reliving, is one he said came about because he just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was still coming into his own back then, in 2001, only half-heartedly rushing the quarterback and counting to three before looking up at the exact right second to have history literally fall into his hands.
That’s when his star teammate Roy Williams took flight and etched both their names in the storied history of the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry — when “The Superman Play” was born at the Red River Showdown.
And for that, Lehman said, “I think we all owe Roy a beer.”
The play, which led to a Lehman touchdown and effectively won the game for Oklahoma, cemented Williams’ legacy as one of the best defensive players in program history.
Twenty years later, ahead of the latest installment of the Red River Showdown (Saturday, noon ET, ABC), Williams’ teammates and coaches recall that moment, a seminal play in their careers — even if their involvement was only a matter of luck, as Lehman insists his was.
Lehman said he can name 100 plays in his career during which he performed better individually, but they all pale in comparison.
“All right,” he said with a laugh, “I’ll ride Roy Williams’ coattails for the rest of my life.”
WILLIAMS ALWAYS STOOD OUT.
In the summer of 2000, Lehman called home one day to let his folks know how things were going at Oklahoma.
A freshman, Lehman had grown up 150 miles east of Norman in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, where he was kind of a big deal. As a senior in high school, he led the Tigers to the state championship game, recording an eye-popping 151…
Source : espn
