A once-deep Oklahoma secondary appears depleted with the possible loss of Lendy Holmes

By Jake Trotter

Published: December 24, 2007

According to OU sports information director Kenny Mossman, coach Bob Stoops said Thursday night that it's too soon to know for sure.

But if Holmes is eventually declared ineligible, that could be a big blow to the Sooner defense. OU already is expected to be without starting cornerback Reggie Smith, who has a broken big toe.

A once-deep Sooner secondary now appears depleted.

The Sooner coaches had planned to move Holmes to corner and insert reserve Darien Williams, who started last year, at free safety.

Now, it appears the Sooners will have to shuffle their defensive backfield again.

If Holmes is out, OU has two options.

The Sooners could move starting strong safety, D.J. Wolfe, to corner, where Wolfe played for two years before switching positions in the spring.

More likely, however, OU will place inexperienced redshirt freshman Dominique Franks into the starting lineup.

The 5-foot-10, 187-pound Franks, out of Tulsa Union High School, has only three tackles on the year, with most of his playing time coming on punt returns.

Franks did play corner on a couple of possessions against Missouri in the Big 12 Championship when Smith battled injuries early in the game.

Franks played decently, even though he was penalized for a questionable defensive pass interference call on the Tigers' third drive, which led to a Missouri field goal.

But Franks' significance won't solely be in pass coverage against West Virginia.

The Sooner coaches will be counting on him to supply help against the Mountaineers' perimeter rushing attack, which ranks fourth in the nation, averaging 293 yards per game.

That's where the Sooners will miss Holmes the most.

Even though he isn't as big as some of the other defensive backs, Holmes has been perhaps OU's best tackler out of the defensive backfield.

Now, it appears that onus will be on Franks.

But if Franks doesn't get beat by Mountaineer wide receiver Darius Reynaud and doesn't miss too many tackles on quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton, OU should still be fine on defense.

Even if that means playing without two starting defensive backs.

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