Berry Tramel: OU Will Miss Travis Lewis ‘More Emotionally Than Physically’

Berry Tramel says OU will miss injured linebacker Travis Lewis “more emotionally than physically, thanks to Corey Nelson.”

“Nelson is the sophomore from Dallas who has drawn rave reviews since he arrived on campus. Sooner coaches have spent the last calendar year trying to figure out how to get Nelson on the field. They ended up playing him at a variety of positions down the stretch last season, and this August have been trying him all over, primarily at strongside linebacker/nickelback, which moved Tony Jefferson to free safety.

“Jefferson is a heck of a ballplayer himself, a force on defense who last year played almost full-time and showed signs of becoming a star. To move Jefferson out of that comfort zone is a sign that Nelson is the real deal. And Bob Stoops himself said Nelson was OU’s best defender in the spring.”

How he analyzes the impact of this injury on the defense:

“Now, Nelson goes back to weakside linebacker, Jefferson back to nickelback and Javon Harris regains the starting free safety position.

“Does that hurt OU? Sure. But it sounds like it will hurt more at free safety than at weakside linebacker. It comes down not to whether you’d have Travis Lewis or Corey Nelson at weakside linebacker. It comes down to whether you’d rather have Travis Lewis or Javon Harris on the field.”