When Oklahoma opens its spring football practice this week, there are a couple of major questions that need to be answered.

     What is going to happen at linebacker and who are going to be the starters in the defensive secondary. These are two major concerns of the coaching staff.

     Bob Stoops thought his linebacking group would be in great shape with Curtis Lofton coming back for his senior year. That obviously isn’t happening as this Kingfisher native shocked most people in the program when he decided to head to the NFL a year early. That is a huge defection.

     The big key is Ryan Reynolds. Just a year ago the Sooners thought Reynolds was going to be a star if he could stay healthy. They thought he would be a more productive play than Rufus Alexander, their Butkus Award nominee who had graduated.

     That definitely wasn’t the case. Reynolds stuggled after coming back from two knee injuries. He didn’t have the burst of speed needed to excel. He had big problems in pass coverage. A lot of times in passing situations late in the year, he was on the bench watching.

     The experiment going on in the spring is moving him to middle linebacker. The coaches think that’s his natural position. They also say he has regained some speed because he has been able to work hard in rehab. We will see.

     But he’s not the only question. How will redshirt freshmen Travis Lewis and Austin Box perform? Sure, they were highly recruited players, but they haven’t play a down of college football.

     The linebacking posts are critical in the style of defense the Sooners play. There needs to be some answers in this department coming out of the spring. If the guys on campus can’t get it down, then there will be some help arriving in June from the junior college ranks.

     And what will happen in the defensive secondary? Going into the spring the Sooners know they can depend of two players–Lendy Holmes and Nic Harris. They have been starters and are good players. But who else is going to be able to nail down starting jobs?

     There are a handful of young players who will be given long looks. But can the secondary be as good as it’s been this year without starters like Reggie Smith, Marcus Walker and D.J. Wolfe around? That might be difficult.

     Oklahoma is loaded at just about every other position. The offense should be explosive. The only question there will be replacing wide receiver Malcolm Kelly. The Sooners should be able to score a lot of points on just about everyone they play.

     But will they be good enough to contend for a national title? We should know a lot more after the spring when we see what goes on at linebacker and in the defensive secondary.