Oklahoma football: Austin Woods finishes chemotherapy

 
By Ryan Aber and Jason Kersey and Stephanie Kuzydym | Published: October 2, 2012    Comment on this article Leave a comment

Austin Woods smiled as he answered every question the media asked.

He was smiling because he'd done it.

The junior offensive lineman completed his chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin lymphoma on Monday and took Tuesday off from practice.

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“I'm a little more tired than I thought I would be,” Woods said. “I'm not sure if it's just because of school and lifting and chemotherapy or what.”

Woods was diagnosed with cancer soon after the spring game. He went through the entire preseason while going through chemotherapy and only missed a practice or two. He said the port still remains in his chest, and he still has another scan in three weeks that will tell him whether or not he is in remission, but all of his scans previously have come back “excellent.”

Oct. 1 was his last chemotherapy treatment.

“I'm really happy that I made it through and not too many setbacks along the way,” Woods said. “All my teammates and the fans helped out a lot.”

DEFENSE FOCUSES ON TURNOVERS AND BATTED BALLS

Oklahoma's defense worked this week on creating turnovers — whether that's forcing an interception or knocking down passes.

David King said the defense hasn't been performing to its standards.

“We usually have seven or eight at this point,” King said about batted balls. So far, Oklahoma has zero batted balls in 2012.

King said Texas Tech's pass-heavy offense will mean that defenders either need to get in the pocket or get their hands up.

“He's not a real tall quarterback,” King said of Seth Doege, the Red Raiders' starter. “We've got to get our hands up, or if we can't get in there, we've got to create some pressure in the backfield.”

Defensive ends coach Bobby Jack Wright put a strong emphasis on getting hands up and stripping the ball.

“His mouth out there,” King said, “he's just yelling at everybody. … We're just not getting any turnovers and that's just not the level we're used to playing at around here.”

OU HAS TO ‘WATCH IT' IN PRACTICES

Now that Oklahoma has already been through both of its 2012 regular-season bye weeks, the Sooners have nine straight weeks of a brutal Big 12 schedule, starting with Saturday's game at Texas Tech.

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