Plaino, I never met Robertson, but my old junior high coach (Jim Issac) actually coached him in high school out in California before moving back to Oklahoma. Jim told me that Dave was a really good passing QB, but wasn't surprised that he performed well in Barry's offense. He said Robertson was a very smart kid and rarely got too excited. Of course, he had a bunch of great players surrounding him in '72. I remember he and Tinker hooked up for about half of his passing yards and Tink was only a freshman??? Anyway, I agree with you that Robertson could have done well in Riley's offense and I hope that one of the current guys can too.
Dave was in my class. That was a loaded class one year after the Mildren class, that put OU back on the road to greatness. There were two quarterbacks in that class, Robertson and Dan Ruster. Ruster was from Littleton Colorado and came to OU because he said he wanted to "beat out Jack Mildren." They split time on the Boomers taking snaps. But Ruster tore up his throwing shoulder and moved to the secondary early in his varsity career.
The other quarterback in Mildren's class, who might have been a great quarterback at OU had he been willing to redshirt, was Mike Jones who transferred to what was then called Central State in Edmond (UCO now) and was a small college star. Jones ended up in college coaching and did a stint as an assistant coach at OU.
The next class was primarily quarterbacked by James Stokely who was a single wing hs quarterback at Haltom City. He started for the Boomers but after a varsity redshirt year, transferred.
The class after that was Steve Davis class that had seven quarterbacks in it. I can remember maybe five of them. Gary Vorpahl. E.N. Simon. Larry McBroom, Glenn Gunter, James Mabry. There was another who split time with Steve on the Boomers, but none of them was ready to play after their freshman year.
It was thought that two hot shot quarterbacks in the freshman class of 1972, which was the first year in more than two decades when freshman could play varsity football, might be able to run our wishbone. But the favorite was Scott Hill, who'd been considered co top quarterback in Texas his senior year along with Marty Akins who went to Texas. And of course the other was Kerry Jackson, who ended up being the back up and then in trouble for an administrator changing his transcript. Hill competed in a pre season scrimmage and separated his throwing shoulder. It was later decided that he wouldn't enroll until second semester, leaving Jackson an impressive athlete whom Barry LOVED. (That was Coach Switzer's last year as OC. Chuck was the HC)
That Ruster-Robertson class included these great Sooners: Greg Pruitt, Joe Wylie, Al Chandler, Raymond Hamilton, Tom Brahaney, Dean Unruh, Eddie Foster, Stump 1, Stump 2 and Stump 3 (Vic Kearney, Jon MIlstead and Danny Mullen. The numbers may be misaligned), Derland Moore (though he came on a track ship to start.), Larry Roach, Mike McLaughlin, John McLaughlin, Leon Crosswhite, Gary Baccus, Mike Struck and Tommy Saunders. All but one or two of those guys started more than one varsity game at OU.
There were like ten possibilities, though at least a couple moved to defense and a couple more transferred to smaller schools. Most people thought Robertson was too slow to be a wishbone quarterback. But he had the confidence of the senior class, which dominated the offensive starters. He was clearly the best leader and the best at reading the defense, and doing the mechanics with a whole lot fewer mistakes. And he gave us a drop back throwing threat that allowed us to come from down 14-0 in Lincoln, and to get passing yards against a quality Penn State defense in the Sugar Bowl.
We also beat Dan Fouts' Ducks 68-3. Robertson was way better than Jackson, despite the latter's superior athleticism. But Kerry had no college football experience and it showed. Dave moved the team better and didn't turn it over nearly as much. Jackson had a stronger arm, but it was less seasoned and a lot less accurate.
Dave got us from Jack to Steve. We were 11-1. And Dave did something Jack never did. He won a conference title. He was bright, humble, competent and a winner. Including freshman games, he played in or started 16 games in his career, not including varsity mop up before 1972 and he only lost once, on the ice in Boulder. He got it done.