Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops addressed the media for the first time in two weeks this afternoon. The Sooners are in full preparation mode for their Insight Bowl matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes on December 30 in Arizona.
However, Stoops didn’t field a single question about the Hawkeyes or the Sooners’ preparations for the game. Perhaps it was an indication of how the media felt about the Sooners playing in the Insight Bowl. Perhaps it showed how much the media considered Iowa to be a worthy opponent.
But more than anything, it showed a program facing a lot of adversity, as much as Stoops has ever had with his program in Norman.
Stoops was quick to address the rumors of freshman running back Brandon Williams transferring.
“Brandon Williams asked for a release a while back, and he was granted this,” Stoops said. “Roy Finch, Brennan Clay and Trey Millard will be playing in the bowl game.”
There are also rumors floating around that Brennan Clay is looking to transfer due to displeasure with his situation in Norman. However, Stoops said he had heard no such thing.
The running back position was one of the Sooners’ deepest coming into the season, but now three of the six running backs that started the season have transferred and a fourth is unhappy and could want out. Not exactly what Stoops had in mind.
It’s difficult to pinpoint a reason why the mass exodus of running backs is occurring, but Stoops said it’s a combination of reasons for each person.
Perhaps that sudden lack of depth is the reason OU finally offered a scholarship to local hero Donovan Roberts, a running back at Norman High School.
In addition to the running backs position, Stoops revealed that tight end Austin Haywood would not be returning to the team and that redshirt freshman Max Stevenson would not be able to play anymore after surgery on a torn pectoral muscle.
Those losses, plus graduations, leave the Sooners with no tight ends for the 2012 season.
None.
Whatever is going on behind closed doors in the Oklahoma football program needs to be corrected or it’s going to bring the program to its knees. It’s already pretty low, with a 9-3 record and Insight Bowl berth to show for preseason expectations of a national championship.
But Oklahoma is not a flash in the pan kind of team. They’re one of the greatest college football programs for a reason. They’ll get the problems corrected and be back to their winning ways.
The only question, is when?
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