Chat Leftovers: Iowa could upset Sooners
Here are a few highlights from his chat:
Nate (OK): Does Iowa even stand a chance? Also, when do you think Ryan Broyles will be drafted and where to?
Jake Trotter: Last year in the Insight Bowl, Iowa beat a Missouri team that was ranked higher than this OU team is now. So yeah, Iowa has a chance. Too soon to project Broyles' draft stock because of the injury, but the best he could hope for is third round. Because he won't be able to work out for NFL teams before the draft, he could go lower.
Rob (Yukon): What minor shakeups do you predict?
Jake Trotter: For one, an overhaul of the roster. Sooners need to get deeper, and I think that's why you see them going after so many JUCOs. OU didn't have enough guys available to play this year and it showed.
Robert (Tahlequah, Oklahoma): Does the Big 12 have next year's schedule out yet? Do we play TCU there? Is there a chance they move that game to Cowboys Stadium?
Jake Trotter: No schedule out yet. I don't see that with TCU. If OU plays in Cowboys Stadium, I would expect it to be an out-of-conference game, such as BYU in 2009.
Madison Miller (Grove, OK): What do you think about the Sooners football [team] next season?
Jake Trotter: I think it could be a transitional year. The defense is losing its three best players. The offense could be losing its QB, and has to retool at WR, TE and possibly even RB. OU has a chance to be good. But no one is going to be picking the Sooners to win the national title before the season.
Mike (Dallas): There seems to be a lot of off-the-field issues with OU as much as on-field issues. I don't think Bob Stoops has lost control of his team, but I do feel he has a lot more work ahead of him besides X's and O's. Your thoughts?
Jake Trotter: Agreed. Attitude, chemistry, leadership of this team is to be desired. Those problems were much bigger than any game plan or scheme.
Jaz Reynolds still sore after hurting kidney
Reynolds spent more than a week in the hospital after his bruising his kidney in the game.
“Even before that, his kidney wasn’t functioning properly. And then it got it badly bruised,” Stoops said. “It was a bad situation there for a full week. He’s still walking around gingerly and sore.”
Reynolds has already been ruled out for the Insight Bowl. His status after that remains unknown.
“The plan from here, there's a couple of options,” Stoops said. “I'm not going to cover them all, but they'll, as a family, decide what they're going to do. But he is expected to be able to play next year.”
Will Bob Stoops make coaching changes?
“I am happy with my staff,” Bob Stoops first said, then added, “it's fair to say throughout the country, with all the coaching changes, anything can happen. You never know. So, we'll see.”
Certain OU fans got overly excited about that possibility. Mike Stoops’ Wikipedia page was edited to say that he had been hired back as the Sooners’ defensive coordinator. OU assistant Willie Martinez’s Wikipedia page was also amended to include “former” OU defensive backs coach.
Both pages were fixed back by the end of the day Monday.
Of any OU position group, the defensive backs were most disappointing because they were big culprits in two of the Sooners’ three losses.
Robert Griffin III became the Heisman frontrunner after gashing the Sooners for a Baylor-record 479 passing yards and four touchdowns, including a game-winning 34-yard bomb with eight seconds to go.
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Who's left for Oklahoma's 2012 class? 
The Sooners have 17 verbal commitments. And after initially looking like a smaller class, this signing class could see the Oklahoma bring in as many as 25 recruits. Though the situation remains fluid, these are some of the prospects the Sooners are recruiting heavily at the moment.
Nelson Agholor (6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep)
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OL Kyle Marrs, Sooners a 'perfect' fit
“It was a lot of fun,” Marrs said. “I got to hang out with some of the other recruits. Being there with my future teammates like Trevor (Knight), John Michael (McGee) and Ty (Darlington) was real fun.”
Freshman offensive lineman Derek Farniok hosted Marrs, and the four-star tackle/guard prospect had the chance to get a better understanding of the demands and expectations of being a Sooner.
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RB Brandon Williams to transfer from OU
Stoops said he didn’t know where Williams would transfer, but sources at OU have indicated Williams is likely to end up at Texas A&M, which is an hour drive away from his hometown of Brookshire, Texas.
Williams, who enrolled in the spring, was OU’s top-rated recruit according to ESPNU, which ranked him the No. 5 running back in the country. Because of fumbling issues in practice, Williams played sparingly at the beginning of season. But an injury to starter Dominique Whaley allowed Williams to become a bigger part of the offense late in the season. As a backup, Williams rushed for 116 yards in the Sooners’ final three games and averaged 5.5 yards per carry.
Williams suffered a neck injury in the season finale against Oklahoma State that required him to wear a brace, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
Williams is the third running back to leave OU this year alone. Earlier in the season, Jermie Calhoun and Jonathan Miller also were granted releases to transfer.
With Williams gone and Whaley still recovering from a fractured ankle, the Sooners will be down to just two running backs -- Roy Finch and Brennan Clay -- for the Dec. 30 Insight Bowl against Iowa.
Lewis out for bowl game, likely done at OU
Coach Bob Stoops said Monday that Lewis will miss the Dec. 30 Insight Bowl because of academic issues. Stoops also said he expects Lewis to declare for the NFL Draft.
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Steven Pledger earns Big 12 honors
Pledger scored 31 points while shooting 10-for-13 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range against Houston. He ranks No. 1 nationally among guards with his .604 field goal percentage.
Pledger shared the award with Baylor's Perry Jones III.
McGee likes inside look at OU program
McGee was scheduled for an 11 a.m. flight Friday but that flight was canceled. His next flight was scheduled at 2 p.m., but that one was delayed. Coincidentally, because of the delay, he arrived in Oklahoma City at the same time as offensive tackle Kyle Marrs (San Antonio/Brandeis) and cornerback Colin Blake (San Antonio/Brandeis).
Marrs, an OU commit, and Blake, who is committed to Texas A&M, were both on official visits of their own to Oklahoma.
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For a few games, they stepped up and accepted the challenge. Against Florida State and Texas, OU’s linebackers helped the Sooners hold both teams -- each ranked in the top 15 at the time -- to less than 2 yards per carry.
But other performances left plenty to be desired. Oklahoma State ran at will against the Sooners, finishing with 278 rushing yards while averaging 8.42 yards per carry, and Missouri rushed for 241 yards while averaging 5.74 yards per carry.
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Przybylo's Mailbag: 2012 class growing
Josh in Moore, Okla., asks: I thought this class was going to be smaller in comparison to some of the others. Is there a magic number for how many commits we’ll have?
Bob Przybylo: In September, I would have said the magic number was 18 or 19. Right now I’m putting it a lot closer to 24 or 25. This is going to be a lot bigger class than anticipated. And frankly, OU needs to have as many scholarships to give out as possible.
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DE Mario Edwards enjoys weekend at OU
The five-star Seminoles commit and the nation’s top-ranked player did comment on how he enjoyed being in Norman and all that it had to offer.
“It was pretty good, a nice experience,” said Edwards, who attending the Sooners' team banquet weekend festivities. “I got to really get a feel for the place. It was a pretty good environment.”
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Analysis: OU still needs help in secondary
The search, however, isn’t over for help in the secondary for the Sooners. And more help could certainly be on the way this week. Safety Gerald Bowman (Woodland Hills, Calif./Pierce College) and teammate cornerback Kass Everett (Philadelphia/Pierce College) have both announced they will make their decision Wednesday.
Bowman is down to OU, USC and Miami (Fla.), while Everett has Oklahoma and Texas Tech as his final two. As Everett once again made abundantly clear on Twitter on Sunday afternoon, if the Sooners get one, that does not guarantee getting the other.
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OU commit Alex Ross on road to recovery
Ross, the top-ranked OU verbal commit at No. 38 in the ESPNU 150, is still solid with the Sooners following his official visit this weekend.
And he’s getting closer to being 100 percent healthy. Ross suffered a cracked collarbone midway through his senior season. He returned for one monster playoff game where he rushed for more than 250 yards and three touchdowns before injuring the collarbone again in the state semifinals.
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ABOUT SOONER NATION
Jake Trotter
Jake Trotter joined ESPN.com in 2011 after four years with The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman, covering OU and Big 12 football. He's a graduate of Washington and Lee (Va.) University and lives in Oklahoma City with his wife. Email him at trotterjake@gmail.com.
Brandon Chatmon
Brandon Chatmon joined ESPN.com in 2011 after spending eight years with The Oklahoman, covering Oklahoma State University, high schools and recruiting. Chatmon lives in Norman, Okla. Email him at bchatmonespn@gmail.com.
Bob Przybylo
Bob Przybylo joined ESPN.com in 2011 after spending four years with The Oklahoman, covering high schools and recruiting. Przybylo lives in Oklahoma City. Email him at bprzybyloespn@gmail.com.