The hits just keep on coming for the Oklahoma Soones at linebacker. While this could never even remotely compare to the tragic passing of LB Austin Box, OU will now be forced to open the season without the leader of their defense. An injury to your best player on a defense expected to play a significant role towards a potential national championship is one of the worst possible things that could have happen to a team before their season even starts. Unfortunately this seems to have taken place according to reports out of Norman today. OU star linebacker Travis Lewis has suffered a broken bone in his foot and will miss up to eight weeks. I'll let the severity and suckitude of that sink in for a sec.
The Sooners defense will now be without it's unquestioned leader and must immediately start preparing for his loss with a very difficult opening schedule now staring them down. Sucks for Travis for a bunch of reasons, but primarily because he came back for his senior year and will now be forced to miss almost half of it. So much for that experiment with Corey Nelson at nickel back and safety. Time to get him fully acclimated with the WLB and all that entails. We've heard Stoops rave about him being the best player on the field all spring/summer, time to see if that was just lip service or if we really do have the next star WLB in the crimson and cream.
I'm betting that Lewis is back much earlier than the initial timeline, but that won't be before their big road test at FSU. So things just got a lot tougher for this Sooners squad, time to see if this is a championship caliber team with their first (of likely several) gut check moments.