Not much has gone right for the Oklahoma Sooners when it comes to injury luck this season. The offensive line was decimated with injuries through the first four weeks, the secondary got banged up, and they've had two straight games missing their top five wide receivers.
The Sooners are still expected to miss receivers Jayden Gibson, Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, and Andrel Anthony this weekend against South Carolina.
However, they might be getting some good news on the availability of Deion Burks.
Earlier this week, Sooners head coach Brent Venables spoke on how hard Burks was trying to be able to play this weekend. On Tuesday, Venables said Burks was up to 80% of his normal volume on Monday.
"Deion’s hoping to play this week. He wants to defy all odds and be ready to play this week. He got up to 80% of his max volume yesterday, and these guys are working relentlessly to put themselves in a position to help us this year."
What makes Burks's availability seem more likely is that his designation didn't change. In the last two games, Burks was kept down to out and doubtful. This week? He's stayed at questionable, a sign that his return is soon.
Burks coming back would provide an incredible boost to the Sooners' offense. Having that reliable playmaker the offense can generate easy targets to and who will do damage after the catch opens things up tremendously and makes Michael Hawkins' job much easier.
In other news, talented freshman defensive tackle David Stone was also taken off of the injury report after being listed as probable on Wednesday's report.
For South Carolina, Defensive tackle DeAndre Jules has 12 tackles as part of the Gamecocks' rotation up front, but none of their other players on the report have made much of an impact for the team.
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