What Can Oklahoma Do With Star Linebacker Kip Lewis Missing Time

Kip Lewis played 10 snaps against Michigan, per Pro Football Focus. In reality, he played a few snaps, appeared to have seriously injured his right knee, tried to come back in and only managed a handful more snaps before his day was done.

After the game, Brent Venables said he didn't know the extent of the star linebacker's injury but that he would "miss some time."

James Nesta came in to relieve the hurt Lewis and was the sixth-highest-rated defensive player in his 27 snaps. Owen Heinecke moved to the WILL linebacker spot while Cole Sullivan took the reps at MIKE. Both had games they'd like to forget.

If Lewis is out for the foreseeable future, could his injury leave an unfixable hole in Oklahoma’s defense?

"Lose a guy like Kip. I mean, he's a good player," Venables said after the game. "But I thought the other guys came in, and we reestablished a rhythm, especially in the second half. Seventy-five yards on 25 plays. So did a lot of good things to make that happen."

The Sooners' strength is still on defense. They're equipped to handle an injury or two with the depth Venables has built in his five seasons as head coach.

Linebacker was always Oklahoma’s thinnest position group on defense. Any injury to a starter hurts, but losing Lewis — a captain and one of the team’s best players — from the roster’s least-equipped unit to absorb an absence could leave a weakness that is impossible to mask.

Oklahoma has seen this before. Ryan Reynolds’ 2008 Red River injury helped swing a 21-10 OU lead into a 45-35 loss, and the Sooners spent weeks trying to replace him before Mike Balogun emerged late.

Considering the road OU faces over the next month, they don't have the luxury of time to find someone to replace Lewis.

The burden falls on Heinecke and Sullivan to be better. Heinecke finished with a team-high 10 tackles and a sack against Michigan, but he's been the victim of missed tackles — Venables lamented a missed tackle for loss by Nesta and Heinecke following Mateer's fourth-quarter interception.

"Kip's an emotional and on-the-field leader, but the expectation is there's no drop-off,'' Heinecke said. "I think Nesta did a good job with stepping up in that situation. Obviously there's gonna be a lot to learn from and get better. But credit to Nesta and praying for Kip. Hoping that he's feeling alright."

Sullivan had one tackle in his return to Ann Arbor. That won't cut it.

"Losing a guy like Kip is huge, it's a huge loss," Sullivan said. "We obviously didn't play a perfect game. There were some more plays to be made out there. We have to get better from that. We're going to see how long Kip is going to be out. So, we just have to prepare."

Oklahoma has faith in its depth. Nesta appears to have a bright future ahead of him even if that future has quickly transformed into present expectations.

But Sullivan — who was brought to OU prior to Heinecke's return — needs to play better if the defense is going to maintain its expectations. The same can be said for Heinecke. Oklahoma has no choice.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google