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OU needs alternative fuels, now

 
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 10/15/2008  2:06 AM
Last Modified: 10/15/2008  2:56 AM

 NORMAN — Finding some playmakers has become Job One for Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops and his staff this week.

That's usually a chore best left to accomplish during spring drills and fall camp. Practice the week before game seven of a 12-game, regular-season schedule isn't the ideal period to identify those capable of making plays when their coaches put them in the right positions.

So the timing stinks. But a coaching staff is left with little choice when its kickoff coverage team ranks 109th out of 119 teams, and its best linebacker is out for the season with a knee injury.

So the search is on these days on the Sooners' practice fields.

Actually, Stoops said at Tuesday's press conference that he already has identified at least four players he is going to replace on the kickoff coverage team when No. 4 OU (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) hosts No. 16 Kansas (5-1, 2-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Stoops may have to wait a couple weeks to see if those changes worked. After all, KU's kickoff return team ranks dead last (119th), which has Jayhawks' coach Mark Mangino also shaking up his special teams.

Replacing injured middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds remains a bigger mystery. It could be solved this week, or be delayed until next spring. So it goes, when you didn't have experienced quality depth at the position to start with.

OU's defensive performance dropped off dramatically after Reynolds blew out his right knee during last Saturday's 45-35 loss to Texas. The Longhorns averaged 4.58 yards per play with Reynolds playing, and 8.25 yards after he was hurt with 11 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Stoops said he wasn't surprised Reynolds' loss had such a dynamic effect in the annual Red River Shootout, not "when it's your middle 'backer, who is one of your better players, and the last couple games had made about 30 tackles."

The Longhorns took advantage of the inexperience of Reynolds' replacement. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Crow, who played in four games last season and sparingly in 2008, was beaten on two long pass plays and unable to fill his assigned gap on two long running plays.

Crow apparently doesn't figure prominently in OU's intense search this week to replace perhaps its best defensive player. Stoops said starting weakside linebacker Travis Lewis could shift to the middle, as could his backup, redshirt freshman Austin Box.

At his current position, Lewis, (who had 19 tackles against UT), is probably playing too well to move. In addition to switching Box to the middle, Stoops also talked about junior college transfer J.R. Bryant and Mike Balogun before mentioning Crow.

Stoops said he stuck with the struggling Crow the rest of the UT game instead of trying another player because the other linebackers had not demonstrated in last week's practices that they had grasped the defensive concepts well enough to know where to line up or what keys to read.

"We're going to go with the guy that we think is going to get the best job done, and that's what we did," Stoops said. "We went with the guy we felt gave us the best opportunity at the time."

The obvious concern is if defensive coordinator and linebackers' coach Brent Venables can teach any of the linebackers to play the middle position that they couldn't master last week. Stoops acknowledged that "we've had them in there (middle) before and it didn't work out really well.

The oft-injured Reynolds was playing his first season in the middle after switching in the spring from the weakside position where he started seven games last season. He saw action throughout the duration of most games in order to gain experience, but also because he was definitely a playmaker.

OU is in this middle linebacker pickle because 2007 All-American junior Curtis Lofton left early for the NFL. Also complicating matters was that Mike Reed, a highly regarded junior-college transfer last year, turned out to be a bust and is no longer on the team.

In August, Stoops confirmed during Big 12 Conference media days that he was surprised when Lofton decided to skip his senior season. But in those situations, Stoops has often said a player should leave if he wants to and the Sooners will go about their business of finding a replacement.

But it's never ideal when you're forced to open back up for business midseason to find a replacement for the replacement.
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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jazzy529, upper marlboro, md (10/15/2008 5:50:38 AM)
Stoops if you let venables take a chance and a long shot on a freshman in one of the biggest games at Texas and lose! Why be scared to put in your JR college experienced highly capable football player like Balogun. You got the bullets for your gun but you still fighting with a knife.
"do or die" - "win or lose" come on and let's play some football!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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jazzy529, upper marlboro, md (10/15/2008 5:54:18 AM)
You've eaten CROW and
You've been BOXED in
Reynolds is a wrap
Now is the time to get the ball going with "BA-LO-GUN"
 

 
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