Now, he's the one dishing out the punishment

MOSCOW - For Quinton Bradley, these were the come-to-Jesus moments that tend to go unadvertised by college football programs when they bombard your doorstep with recruiting letters, pamphlets and brochures guaranteeing the Grade-A experience you're sure to receive at their school.

There's nothing in the fine print about a 300-pound behemoth driving you upfield like a snowplow. Or in Bradley's case as an Idaho freshman, three of those very behemoths.

"I thought I was big at 218," he said. "I really did."

Offensive linemen Matt Cleveland (6-4, 308), Tyrone Novikoff (6-7, 304) and Sam Tupua (6-2, 345) met Bradley's confidence head-on, resisted it, then pounded it back into the ground - often in the form of pancake blocks.

"I'll tell you this, the first time that you get driven off the ball, it'll make you hit that weight room," Bradley said. "I kid you not, the first time you see yourself on film, getting drove off the field and all your teammates see it, you're not going to let it happen again."

Tupua, the Samoan strongman who most recently patrolled the offensive front for the AFL's Spokane Shock, doled out most of the early bumps and bruises.

"Sam hurt me. I did not like that. Sam hurt me," Bradley said. " I hated that, I really did. It made me not want to come to practice, but they got me tougher and I respect them for that.

"Ooohh," he said, "I hated those days."

So Idaho's edge rusher, packaged in San Antonio, Texas, before being shipped to Moscow, will be the first to debunk this myth about the Lone Star State: Not everything is necessarily bigger in Texas.

"I was skinny," Bradley quipped.

Five years in the Gem State changed that. Now a 6-foot-4, 260-pound, muscle-bound senior, Bradley has led the Sun Belt Conference this season in both sacks and tackles-for-loss at various points this season. He shapes up as Idaho's best NFL prospect.

And he's proud to add: "I'm not a little boy anymore."

GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN

As far as Texans are concerned, Bradley grew up as a bit of an oddball.

He was born with a basketball in his hands and never could quite understand his home state's infatuation with football, which is only second-best in Texas to Christianity.

"I didn't like it. I didn't, I mean I played street basketball at home," Bradley said. "... I didn't like not being seen, with the helmet on, and I couldn't really catch that good."

He dreamt of sprouting into a 6-11 NBA center, but never grew taller than 6-4.

When he fractured his patella in ninth grade, he was ready to kiss his football career goodbye until the head football coach at San Antonio's Roosevelt High, Neal LaHue, intervened.

"How many 6-4 centers and power forwards are out there?" LaHue asked Bradley.

None came to mind. The coach made another valid point.

"Then he told me I was Tony Parker's height," Bradley recalled.

A comparison any San Antonian well-versed with the city's pro sports scene can understand. He wasn't quick and nimble like the Spurs point guard. But he wasn't tall and rangy like 6-11 San Antonio center Tim Duncan - more of what Bradley had in mind when he pieced together his childhood aspirations.

He wasn't a hooper.

"Then I really just said in my head, 'Well, maybe if I just get stronger and bigger, I'll be a good defensive end,' " Bradley said.

He'd soon unearth a passion for the state's favorite pastime and became transfixed with the violent nature of the sport.

"Football is the only sport where you can really dominate somebody one-on-one," he said. "Like if I'm stronger than you, I can just throw you in the dirt and laugh at you."

"IOWA STATE MADE ME THINK I WAS GOOD"

The humble, modest basketball enthusiast never thought he had the stuff to play football at the next level.

But Bradley's confidence boomed as soon as he lucked into a starting job at 5A Roosevelt as a puny ninth-grader still trying to grasp the techniques that were being forced down his throat.

Roosevelt's starting D-end at the time was a frequent no-show at practice, so the Rough Rider coaches didn't wait long to christen Bradley as their new pass rusher.

"I was blown away," Bradley said.

Shortly thereafter, colleges began to take notice. The daily mail load began to double with letters from schools like Texas, TCU and Oklahoma, among others.

"My first letter was from Iowa State," Bradley said. "Iowa State made me think I was good."

Then Idaho confirmed it.

The Vandals usually sent ex-running backs coach Jeremy Thielbahr to San Antonio to sweet talk Bradley and convince the Roosevelt product to make an official visit. But Bradley, still a timid, unassuming high-schooler, turned the recruiting process into a game of hide-and-seek.

"I really tried to duck and dodge him a lot," Bradley said. "Back then, I was kind of shy, I didn't really want to talk to coaches, I was nervous. So I would try to lie and say I was at lunch or something."

Bradley's mother swayed her son into taking the trip. Not long after, he signed on the dotted line, gifting the Vandals their D-end of the future.

STILL AN ODDBALL

Kenny Holmes came up blank.

Asked if Bradley compares to anybody he's coached or played alongside, UI's defensive line coach didn't have an answer.

"He's his own different animal," said Holmes, a former University of Miami standout who spent six years in the NFL. " Kind of a little oddity for football, I think."

Bradley's not an emotional leader, per se, and his teammates don't characterize him as the vocal type. But what comes out is usually worth listening to.

"He's definitely a laid-back guy," Holmes said. "He has such a good positive mind frame on the guys. It's contagious. You see a guy excited about playing football, saying all the right things, doing all the right things on and off the field."

Well, maybe there is an accurate comparison then. Holmes, the 18th overall pick in the 1997 NFL draft, was much the same way.

"Humble, but when something needs to be said I would say it," noted Holmes, who became Bradley's third D-line coach in five years when he was hired in January.

Ryan Edwards, the senior nose tackle who's flanked Bradley since the two arrived on campus in 2011, possibly knows his teammate better than anyone else.

Rather, knows more about his teammates than anyone else.

"He's like a nerd at times. I catch him playing Final Fantasy or like Pokemon," Edwards said. " You really don't find too many people like that. Nerdy, but on the field you're a beast."

NEXT IN LINE

Bradley has just two more college games remaining before his eligibility clock runs out. Meaning, just two more opportunities to showcase his abilities to potential NFL buyers.

His best chance to do that is Saturday, when his Vandals line up against the SEC's Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium - aka exposure central for seniors like Bradley and UI running back Elijhaa Penny.

"I think those are two guys who want to go out there and play really well and show they can play against that level of talent," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said.

Of course, he thinks Bradley is more than capable.

"I think Quinton always believes that when he lines up across from somebody that he's going to be better than the guy he's lined up across from."

Bradley ranks second in the Sun Belt with five sacks this season - all of which were solo efforts - and checks in at No. 2 in tackles-for-loss. He's first with 13 solo TFLs.

Bradley was also one of 32 players named to the Ted Hendricks Award midseason watch list in late October. Not until media members informed him - two full days later - was he aware of his inclusion.

"What is that?" he asked, before getting the full rundown. The award is handed out annually to the country's best defensive end, he was told. Bradley chuckled. "OK. Wow. Great. I didn't know."

As far as his pro prospects go, Bradley should be encouraged by the number of head-hunters Idaho has sent to the next level in the last five years.

Defensive tackle Michael Cosgrove parlayed a brief NFL stint with the Detroit Lions into an AFL career. Another DT, QuayShawne Buckley, spent his summer in training camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. D-end Maxx Forde earned a tryout with the Chicago Bears before landing a roster spot with the CFL's B.C. Lions. Most notable is former Vandal defensive end Benson Mayowa. Mayowa won a Super Bowl ring with the Seattle Seahawks before being shipped to the Oakland Raiders.

"It's weird because they're your friends then they go off to compete in the NFL or CFL or Arena League," Bradley said. "It's weird because they were just as broke as me, they were doing the same assignments as me and now they're off making successful lives, so it gives you hope, and I really have hope that I can make something out of myself."

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Lawson may be contacted at tlawson@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2260. Follow him on Twitter @TheoLawson_Trib.