Oklahoma defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger’s injured left foot will cause him to miss at least the next four weeks and maybe the rest of the season. If the injury requires surgery, the junior will be out for the remainder of the schedule.
“There’s something in the tendon and the bone and they (OU physicians) are experimenting on whether to let it heal or take four weeks and see if DeMarcus can come back, or the other thing is to possibly do surgery and pin it,” OU coach Bob Stoops said following Wednesday’s practice. “DeMarcus and the doctors are uncertain. I know it’s been reported that he’s done for the year. That isn’t the case yet. If he gets it pinned, he obviously will be. If he doesn’t, he could be out four or five weeks. We’ll just see.”
Granger suffered the injury late in the second quarter of the second-ranked Sooners’ 55-14 victory at Washington last Saturday.
Granger, a junior, didn’t start in OU’s first three games. But he was part of a four-man rotation at OU’s two defensive tackle spots along with Gerald McCoy, Adrian Taylor and Cory Bennett.
McCoy and Taylor started the first three games. But Bennett and Granger had played nearly the same amount of downs.
Granger had made six tackles through the first three games and showed promising signs of getting over a back injury that slowed him in the preseason.
“He was playing like the old DeMarcus,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “In this last game, he really came into form. We’ll miss his presence and his playmaking ability.”
Assuming the timetable Stoops laid out holds, the earliest Granger could return would be against Kansas Oct. 18 at Owen Field. He will definitely miss the TCU, Baylor and Texas games.
The Sooners plan to keep their four-man rotation at defensive tackle with or without Granger. Junior Cordero Moore will move up to Granger’s spot.
“I think he’ll do a good job,” defensive tackles coach Jackie Shipp said of Moore. “We’ll keep working at it and we’ll get him ready.”
Moore saw his first action of the season in the Washington game. He made one tackle.
“It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, but I’m not worried about him (Moore) being able to contribute,” Bennett said.
The Sooners are off this week and don’t play again until TCU visits Owen Field Sept. 27. By then, the Sooners will know whether they’ll have Granger back this season. Stoops said a decision on the surgery will happen in the coming days.
“If it’s going to happen, it will have to happen fairly soon,” he said.
If Granger is lost for the season, it will be the team’s first season-ending injury of the year.
“We have to keep going; it’s as simple as that. He’s a great player, but we still have to keep going,” McCoy said. “Things happen during the season but life moves on. This was part of life.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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Granger out of action
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