COLLEGE FOOTBALL / BOWL REPORT : GATOR : Resler Just Wants to Be a Football Player

If Oklahoma’s Jeff Resler had his way, stories about him would deal with his play at right guard. Instead, “I know they’re going to draw attention to my hand,” said Resler, who is preparing for Sunday’s Gator Bowl game against Virginia. “That’s just part of it.”

Resler, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound redshirt freshman starter, does not have a left hand. He lost it a week after birth because of an infection. “I wish they would just look at me more as being a good football player,” he said.

Sunday’s game will be televised nationwide on ESPN, and Resler’s impairment is almost sure to be mentioned.

“I hope kids (with similar disabilities) do see that and go out and give it their best,” he said. “But it does get old.”