Oklahoma coach Brent Venables gave Sooner Nation a ray of possible sunshine on Monday night.
Junior linebacker Danny Stutsman, Venables said during his weekly coaches show, has “got every intention to play this week” against West Virginia.
No. 17-ranked OU and the Mountaineers kick off Saturday night at 6 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Stutsman went down with an ankle injury early in the loss at Kansas last week. He suited up and went through all the usual pregame warmups last Saturday at Oklahoma State, but wasn’t able to get into the game.
Stutsman “practiced today,” Venables told Teddy Lehman on “Sooner Sports Talk.”
“So you gotta keep him healthy through the week,” Venables added, “and you know, game day speed, I'm sure his adrenaline and all those kinds of things will be ready. He's got every intention to play this week, and practiced today, but we'll try to take care of him and try to get him to game day if we can.”
Stutsman’s return would be monumental for the Oklahoma defense as he leads the team in tackles and ranks among the national leaders in tackles for loss. He’s also the inspirational leader of the OU defense.
In his absence, redshirt freshman Kip Lewis made his first career start against the Cowboys and recorded 15 tackles.
“Really excited about what we saw (from) Kip Lewis,” Venables said. “Had 15 tackles in his first collegiate start, and he's all over the field on special teams as well. … He's 210 pounds soaking wet, but plays big, is super instinctive, plays really fast — the closer he gets to the ball, the faster he gets — and he's super explosive.”
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