Recapping Bob Stoops’ press conference

TODAY, OKLAHOMA opens spring drills, and before his team took the field for their first practice, Bob Stoops held a press conference.

“We’re excited,” Stoops said. “We expect to have a really good football team with the limited number of seniors we had a year ago and the experience we gained with so many young players that came on a year ago and played well throughout the year and in particular the second half of the season. So it’ll be exciting to start the building process.”

THE SOONERS are relatively healthy for spring ball. Fullback Trey Millard and tight end Trent Ratterree will sit out after undergoing surgical shoulder cleanups earlier this off-season. Running back Jermie Calhoun, who tore his ACL, “is not ready but healing fine and doing well,” Stoops said.

Running back Roy Finch, however, is “expected to go” coming back from a December stress fracture. Wideout Dejuan Miller, coming off a torn meniscus, hasn’t been cleared yet, but is expected to sometime this week.

The Sooners will take it easy with defensive end Ronnell Lewis, who spent two nights in a Phoenix hospital after being carted off the field with a neck injury during the Fiesta Bowl. Lewis suffered a concussion and neck stinger, but has long been cleared to resume working out with the team.

“We want to be smart with how much we give him,” Stoops said. “But right now, he went through the whole second half of our winter with no problems and is feeling good. He has been cleared to go.”

THE MOST INTERESTING off-season position change made by the Sooners was shifting Aaron Colvin from cornerback to safety. Stoops said the switch is “experimental,” but he expects Colvin to stick there.