Oklahoma football: The Tony Jefferson scandal

Another draft/workout scandal has erupted at OU. I have no idea what really happened with Tony Jefferson, whether or not an OU coach trashed Jefferson’s workout habits to NFL scouts. But here’s what I do know:

ike Stoops talks with Oklahoma’s Tony Jefferson (1) during the college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Kansas State University Wildcats (KSU) at the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman

* It’s perfectly reasonable for OU coaches and/or staff to give an honest appraisal to NFL scouts. If you want to promote your guys to pro personnel, you have to be willing to be honest both ways. You tell a scout how great a guy is, it’s hard to be credible if you’re not going to say the opposite.

But with that honesty comes responsibility. No way can a scout leak that. If I’m Bob Stoops, I’m on the horn with my staff, finding out exactly which scouts were told what, then I’m on the horn with said scouts laying down the law. I don’t know if it’s possible to trim it down to one perpetrator, but if so, that guy’s banned from campus.

* With all that said, why the bashing of Jefferson? “Horrible practice habits” and “lack of work ethic in the weight room.”

Let’s say it’s true. I have no idea if it’s true. But let’s say it is. Jefferson was not OU’s biggest problem in 2012 or 2011. Jefferson was not among OU’s 50 biggest problems in 2012 or 2011. Jefferson seldom got beat deep and made a ton of tackles.  If very Sooner had played to the level of Jefferson, OU’s last two seasons would have looked vastly different.