OKLAHOMA CITY - As Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young sat on stage waiting to find out who'd win the Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson could remember the nervous feeling when he got to sit in one of those chairs.

But this time, he was nowhere near New York.

"I'm at the house, I was sweeping my floor. It kind of just dawned on me that anything can happen and you've got to be able to handle what happens and take it for what it is," Peterson said Thursday. "I just take it for what it is and try to make up for it in any way you can."

Peterson is an early favorite to get back to that stage, where he finished second behind Leinart during the 2004 season after setting an NCAA freshman record with 1,925 rushing yards.

Even after a season where an ankle injury limited Peterson's production, Oklahoma received enough interview requests for its star running back that it decided to schedule a teleconference Thursday.

For the record, Peterson said beating Texas and winning a national championship are bigger priorities than taking home the Heisman Trophy. But he'd rather take home the award as college football's top player — a dream since he was playing peewee football — than be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

That's only part of his motivation for next season, though. Peterson is hopeful his father will be out of a halfway house in time to watch his football games this fall. He also said his grandfather passed away recently and he's always pushed by the memory of his brother, who was hit by a drunk driver and killed while the two were out bicycling together as kids.

"I just want to do good for them and make those people proud," Peterson said. "Stuff like that keeps me motivated and keeps me on the straight and narrow."

Peterson's father, Nelson, has been in prison since Adrian was in the seventh grade and didn't get to see him become a superstar in person.

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"It's going to be crazy just being able to look in the stands and see him in the stands," Peterson said. "I don't know. That's maybe going to give me the extra drive that I need."

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said he knows Peterson's father has been a motivational factor in the past and has remained a strong supporter and disciplinary figure in his son's life.

"I think more than anything it will help him as a young man to have another support figure right here that he can visit with and help him," Stoops said. "Let's face it, Adrian has a lot of demands on his time, and that can wear on you — expectations and what not. He has somebody that he's close with that he has a chance to share it with."

Peterson was able to go through spring practice for the first time this year, although the Sooners' coaches limited the amount of contact he could take. Offseason shoulder surgery kept him out last spring, and he wasn't on campus before his freshman season.

"I was able to knock off a lot of rust, get better in shape and put on a little weight also," Peterson said. "Being able to go through spring for the first time really helped me out a lot."

Peterson said he has been working on improving his blocking skills and catching passes out of the backfield in an attempt to be an "every down back." Stoops anticipates Peterson being on the field as much as he can be.

"We're going to try to get him 2,000 yards like he did his freshman year and we're going to try to get him another 500 or so receiving," Stoops said. "We'd like to see the guy make a lot of big plays, gain a lot of yards."