Oklahoma Sooners

UPDATE: An OU spokesperson confirms junior defensive tackle Damon Williams is no longer on the team, as well.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma will be transitioning to three new assistant coaches this spring. The Sooners will also have to make do with just four scholarship cornerbacks and possibly as few as three scholarship defensive tackles during the spring, as well.

An OU spokesperson confirmed Sunday night that cornerback Gary Simon and defensive tackle Marquis Anderson are no longer with the squad.

That leaves the Sooners with only returning starter Aaron Colvin, Cortez Johnson and Zack Sanchez and Kass Everett at cornerback; and just Jordan Phillips, Jordan Wade and Torrea Peterson at defensive tackle.

OU was hoping to add junior-college tackle Quincy Russell in January. Russell, however, still has academic work to complete before he can enroll. Of OU’s three returning defensive tackles, only Phillips saw even spot duty last season.

The Sooners signed three high school defensive tackles earlier this month, as well. But one of those, Kerrick Huggins, has yet to qualify and doubled-signed with Trinity Valley Community College in case he doesn’t make it Norman.

Coach Bob Stoops showed he hasn’t been happy lately with OU’s production or recruiting at defensive tackle, and fired his longtime defensive tackles coach, Jackie Shipp, last week. Last season, the Sooners ranked 94th in run defense and 108th in tackles for loss.

OU also lost its top three defensive tackles -- Casey Walker, Jamarkus McFarland and Stacy McGee -- to graduation.

The Sooners face transition in the secondary, as well. Three of five starters are gone, and Simon was expected to challenge Johnson for the starting job at corner opposite Colvin.

Oklahoma saw the Landry Jones Era end in unspectacular fashion on Friday night, with a 41-13 loss to ex-Big 12 rival Texas A&M. Jones is done, and the defense showed it needed some work under Mike Stoops for 2013, but that job just got a little bit tougher.

Colleague Joe Schad cited a source who told him safety Tony Jefferson and receiver Kenny Stills would be leaving early to enter the NFL draft.

Jones is obviously the Sooners' biggest loss, but Jefferson's one of the defense's most talented members, and cornerback Aaron Colvin still has a draft decision to make. The transition to Jones' successor (Blake Bell, Drew Allen or scout team standout Trevor Knight?) gets a little rougher without an experienced receiver like Stills to smooth it over, too.

Oklahoma, though, will have a very tall order to try and restore a defense that struggled down the stretch after giving up 49 points to West Virginia and 48 to Oklahoma State, which was playing Clint Chelf, who began the season as the team's No. 3 quarterback.

Defensive tackle Jamarkus McFarland, Stacy McGee and Casey Walker are all gone, as is star defensive end David King. Safety Javon Harris, the Sooners' biggest standout in the Cotton Bowl loss, ended his career on Friday, as did cornerback Demontre Hurst.

Point is, if Oklahoma's going to fix its defense, it will have to do so without experience. That's difficult in any league, but especially so in the Big 12, where the only thing faster than the receivers is the rate at which offenses evolve and become more difficult to stop.

Expect the Sooners' spring depth chart to look a little crazy and be very fluid throughout spring practice, but without Jefferson and Stills, both sides of the ball will be moving on to 2013 without their most talented pieces.

Playing inside hasn’t been easy for David King.

The senior defensive end moved to defensive tackle for Oklahoma’s first two games this season after Casey Walker was out due to personal issues and Stacy McGee was suspended indefinitely.

King feels undersized for the position and admitted he was “knocked off the ball” a couple of times against UTEP. It’s been a major adjustment for him to move inside.

“It’s a war,” King said. “You have to worry about the guy in front of you and worry about the tackle coming down on you. IT’s the most physically demanding position on the field.”

King has played well early for OU, however. He has five tackles, two quarterback hurries and one sack this season.

Oklahoma usually rotates its players along the defensive line but off-the-field issues have made that a difficult proposition in the Sooners first two games. Senior defensive tackle Jamarkus McFarland has seen extensive time on the field against UTEP and Florida A&M.

“It’s way different than looking to the sideline to see if he might throw someone in,” McFarland said. “When you know you’re going to be out there, you aren’t always looking over there, worried that you’re going to come out. You just have to buckle down and play.”

McFarland and David King have played the majority of the snaps at defensive tackle with Jordan Phillips and Marquis Anderson subbing in late in both games.

Senior Stacy McGee is serving a suspension and is unavailable and fellow senior Casey Walker missed the first two games due to personal issues. Both players were expected to be core members of the Sooners defensive interior this season. Walker will return against Kansas State but there is no announced timetable for McGee’s return.

NORMAN, Okla. -- At the moment, the Sooners are still without their two projected starting defensive tackles in Stacy McGee and Casey Walker. McGee remains suspended for a violation of university rules. Walker has not been at practice for more than a week as he deals with a personal issue.

Defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said he’s not concerned with who’s missing.

“We coach our players who are there and we try to put them in the best position to do the things we need them to do to be successful and coach the players and scheme the guys we have,” Stoops said. “Who we don’t have, we really don’t worry about them.”

In place of McGee and Walker, David King and Jamarkus McFarland took almost every snap at tackle against UTEP and performed well as the Miners offense was kept out of the end zone.

“We play with the guys we have and coach them all the same and hopefully we won’t have to change our defense too much based on the personnel we have available,” Stoops said.

With Torrea Peterson also out with an academic issue, Stoops is hopeful some of his younger tackles like Jordan Phillips and Marquis Anderson will develop to where he can play them on a more consistent basis. Neither player got more than three snaps apiece in El Paso.

“It just wasn’t a comfortable feeling and I think our offense settled in and starting making some drives so I didn’t think we were too gassed (on defense),” Stoops said. “We stuck with the guys on the first line probably more than we would have liked but as the season goes on you hope younger players progress and continue to gain confidence and trust in what they’re doing.”