2011-2012 Offseason Review

I scrapped the first draft of my Offseason Review. You see, a key offseason development was the dismissal from the football team of Jaz "Hands" Reynolds, Trey Franks, Kameel Jackson and Quentin Hayes. I must admit, I didn't realize Quentin Hayes was dismissed. I barely knew he was on the team. He's that good.

Two days ago, the Sooners announced three of the four have been reinstated (Kameel Jackson, he of the prematurely announced transfer to Texas A&M being the lone exception), although all three are still suspended indefinitely. I imagine they'll come back (At least Jaz Hands and Franks) after the opener at UTEP when it will become painfully obvious that a team with perennial title hopes cannot win said title with a system Quarterback and no experience at the Wide Receiver position.

Oh, and on that note, what else could put more pressure on Lonnie, Coach Josh Heupel and the rest of the Sooner offense? Why the return of Mike Stoops!

Nothing has the groins of Sooner faithful swolt like the return of Mikey. The love-hate relationship with Brent Venables is over and, so too, hopefully, the bend-but-don't-break defense that the Sooners have come to rely on over the years. I believe the final straw may have been Venables and Willie Martinez (also gone) architecting the Robert Griffin III Heisman Highlight Reel in Waco (I'm a glutton for punishment and watched the re-airing of this one a few weeks ago. To call the defense sieve-like is an insult to kitchen implements, or really anything, with gaping holes).

The return of Mike does, of course, bring it's own level of pressure and expectations but this is Oklahoma and nothing but a title is ever really sufficient. In this case, nothing short of the baby-eating, sure-tackling, ears-pinned-back mentality that accompanied the dismantling of Florida State for that national title in 2000 will suffice.

So, as I say, no pressure or expectations.

There were also some offseason roster moves. I happen to be of the mind that if a player has contributed exactly nothing to the football team, that player has taken exactly nothing off the table by not joining the team. I don't think armchair recruiting gurus feel the same but they can go kick rocks.

One such player that failed to qualify academically is JC WR Courtney Gardner. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the return of Jaz Hands and Franks. Will Latu, an offensive lineman also couldn't make the grade.

What hurts the most is the loss of Ben Habern who called it quits after dealing with nech issues since high school. Habern had started 30 games in his career at Center and was preseason All Big 12 this year as well. That stings and will come back to haunt. Book it.

Next, Navin and I will go over the offensive side of the football for the 2012 Sooners. Obviously, it will be chock full of "insider only" info so you'll want to check and/or set your RSS feed accordingly.