OU coach Bob Stoops confirmed Tuesday that strong safety Nic Harris will be held out of spring drills while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
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"He won't be in there, but Nic has played a lot of football and he'll be back and fine once the summer comes,” Stoops said.
Harris, who will be a senior, is OU's leading returning tackler and also had two interceptions and 3½ sacks last season.
•Stoops discusses Reed: For the first time, Stoops commented Tuesday on linebacker Mike Reed no longer being on the team.
"I'm never specific on things that aren't positive,” Stoops said. "In the end, there are too many team-related and academic-related activities that are not being met. So therefore, he is not going to be with us during the spring and he will seek other opportunities at the end of the semester.”
Last season, Reed struggled financially to support his wife and kids, while playing football and attending classes all at the same time. When his wife was hospitalized last October, Reed began missing practice and workouts to care for her and their two children.
Reed has not yet commented on what his plans might be.
•Holmes, Granger to both practice in the spring: Despite being held out of the Fiesta Bowl for different reasons, defensive back Lendy Holmes and defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger will both participate in spring drills.
Holmes didn't make the trip to Arizona after failing to stay academically eligible. But he has since made himself eligible to practice with the team again.
Granger was arrested in Tempe, Ariz., accused of shoplifting. He was sent home the next day.
Stoops said Granger has been doing well to get back in the good graces of the coaches and team.
"He's working on it,” Stoops said. "He still has to be consistent through the spring and summer, but the things he's done here since have been positive.”
•Stoops prefers Kirk Gibson: During his Tuesday press conference, Stoops was asked if he had any thoughts about the OU-Boise State Fiesta Bowl being named the second-greatest television highlight of all-time by voters on ESPN.com.
"No,” Stoops responded before admitting that he "thought it was a heck of a highlight.”
A few minutes later, however, Stoops stopped in the middle of answering a different question to reveal which highlight he liked best from ESPN's mock tournament.
"My favorite highlight, by the way, was Kirk Gibson's home run, not that anyone was asking,” he said. "What he did after sitting on the bench the whole game was pretty amazing.”
Battling bad knees, Gibson connected on a pinch-hit, walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. Thanks to Gibson's home run, the Los Angeles Dodgers would go to win the series 4-1 over the Oakland Athletics.
The 1980 "Miracle on Ice” defeated the Fiesta Bowl for the title, which was announced by ESPN over the weekend.
Said Stoops: "Yeah, that was pretty special, too.”
•Red-White tickets on sale: Tickets for OU's April 12 Red-White spring game will go on sale today. Tickets are $5 in advance or $10 the day of the game. For more information, call the OU ticket office at (405) 325-2424.
Kickoff time has been tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m.
By Jake Trotter
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