Injury Report: Oklahoma Looks to Be Healthiest All Season for SEC Opener against Tennessee

The Sooners will be returning some key pieces for Tennessee, including standout receiver Nic Anderson making his season debut.

Oklahoma's Nic Anderson / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

It looks as if Oklahoma could be the healthiest it’s been all season for its SEC opener against Tennessee. 

According to the most recent SEC availability report that was released Friday evening, the Sooners will be without linebacker Dason McCullough and defensive back Gentry Williams against Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Receivers Jayden Gibson and Jalil Farooq and offensive lineman Geirean Hatchett were also listed as out but it was already announced earlier this season that Gibson and Hatchett will miss the rest of the season, while Farooq will miss 6-8 weeks. 

Of that group, McCullough was downgraded to out compared to being doubtful earlier in the week. He hasn’t played yet this season, though, after also missing all of fall camp. 

The list also included a pair of questionable players in offensive linemen Branson Hickman and Jake Taylor. That means their availability for Saturday will most likely not be known until the week’s final availability report is released 90 minutes before kickoff. 

Hickman has played only 10 snaps for OU after suffering a high ankle sprain in the first quarter of the Sooners’ season opener. He was expected to take over as OU’s starting center after transferring from SMU, where he started 33 games and was named All-AAC Second Team last season. With Hickman sidelined, it has been a revolving door for the Sooners at center the last three weeks. 

After missing the season opener, Taylor then left the game early Week 2 before also being sidelined OU’s last game against Tulane. Hickman and Taylor are both major blows to OU up front. Both were listed as starters on the offensive line on the initial depth chart. They’ll be especially needed against Tennessee, which has one of the best defensive lines in the country. 

Might sound like an excuse, but continuity, consistency, confidence comes from having a set group of guys,” OU coach Brent Venables said this week. “You look at linebacker where we were a year ago, certainly better than Year 1 when we only had three guys who could go out there and play. Year 2, all of our backups were freshman and they played like freshmen. They played like this. You mention Kobie (McKinzie), Kobie could not go out and play. He and Kip (Lewis) could not play winning football for us. 

“Same thing with guys who aren’t practicing, it’s hard to play winning football unless you have this depth of experience. And there’s a few of those guys that you mentioned that do have experience. Not as much here, some of them do here and some of them (don’t). So that plays a part. You just kind of adjust to every situation on its own, and we’ve had a lot of them.”

Friday’s injury report wasn’t all bad news for the Sooners, though. Listed as probable, it looks like OU will have receiver Nic Anderson for the first time this season. He had a stellar redshirt-freshman season. His 10 touchdown catches were the most by a freshman in OU and Big 12 history. He also recorded 798 receiving yards, the second most by an OU freshman. This preseason, Anderson was on the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given to the best receiver in college football. 

Fellow receiver Andrel Anthony and defensive back Kendel Dolby were also listed as probable after missing last week’s game against Tulane. 

Tight end Kade McIntyre and offensive lineman Troy Everett were upgraded from questionable to probable on Friday. Everett hasn’t seen the field yet this season because of injury. 

Meanwhile on the other sideline, Tennessee’s biggest blow will be starting left tackle Lance Heard, who will miss his second-straight game because of a leg injury. 

Other players out for Tennessee include defensive backs Jourdan Thomas and John Slaughter and offensive lineman Shamurad Umarov.