By John Shinn
For the third time in the last four weeks and the second week in a row, an Oklahoma player has been named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. Travis Lewis got the honor this week for his effort at Kansas State last Saturday.
The redshirt freshman led the Sooners with 15 tackles, two of which went for loss, in the 58-35 victory. He also intercepted two passes and chalked up 55 yards in returns. Lewis got his first pick on the Wildcats’ opening possession and returned it 27 yards to set up OU’s first score.
“Travis has done a good job,” Stoops said. “He’s an awfully talented guy that has the ability to keep improving and we expect him to. For a (redshirt) freshman to (do) what he’s been doing consistently is exciting. In the future, he’ll keep getting better.”
The San Antonio, Texas, native is OU’s leading tackler this season with 84, the second-highest total ever by a Sooner freshman linebacker. Brian Bosworth holds that mark with 133 in 1984.
Other Sooners to capture Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors this season were Keenan Clayton against Baylor and Lendy Holmes against Kansas.
The Big 12 handed out its other awards this week to Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell (offense) and Matt Williams (special teams).
Bradford makes O’Brien cut
OU quarterback Sam Bradford was among 13 quarterbacks to be named semifinalists for the O’Brien Award Monday.
The Sooner signal-caller has thrown for 2,775 yards and 29 touchdowns this season. He currently ranks 13th and first in the country, respectively, in those categories.
Six of the 13 semifinalist are from the Big 12 Conference. Texas’ Colt McCoy, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, Kansas’ Todd Reesing, Missouri’s Chase Daniel and Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson joined Bradford on the list.
“You pull your hair out when you play those guys every week,” Stoops said Monday. “There’s a bunch of ‘em and I’d argue for the (Big 12 quarterbacks) that were left off.”
Fans are able to vote for semifinalist candidates once daily at www.voteobrien.org. The voting will continue throughout the semifinalist and finalist rounds with 5 percent of the final tally coming directly from the fan vote.
Johnson limited
OU wide receiver Manuel Johnson, who missed last Saturday’s game at Kansas State due to an elbow injury, practiced in a limited capacity Monday.
“He did some things. He’s going to do more drills (today),” Stoops said. “It’s too early to know if he’s going to be ready or not for Nebraska.”
Johnson dislocated his right elbow in the first quarter of the Kansas game. He is right arm was in a sling a week later against Kansas State.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
