The 2011 offseason has yet to reach the level of "full-blown disaster" for the Oklahoma Sooners, but today's news that first-team right tackle Jarvis Jones will miss significant time with a torn patellar tendon certainly doesn't help.

Throw in Jamell Fleming's absence this spring and three starters – Tony Jefferson, Kenny Stills and Stacy McGee – running afoul of the law in the first three months of the year, and Sooner fans should start hoping Jones' injury is the last bad news out of Norman for a while.

Preliminary estimates have Jones returning in October, which means he'd miss September showdowns with Florida State and Missouri. The Red River Shootout would have to be in doubt as well. In fact, if Jones is laid up from now until October, you have to wonder how much he'll be able to contribute at all this year.

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*SI.com profiles Sooner Tom Wort, the British Bulldog. I actually observed a (American) football practice in England once - not impressive.

*I remember the uproar about a decade ago when Red Rocks went corporate. Next up on the Colorado landmark hit list: Folsom Field.

*Ralph Nader says the time has come to end college football scholarships. Tracy Jordan reacts:

*Don't feel bad about screwing off at work. (h/t Marginal Revolution)

*Picks for tonight's games: Ohio State over Kentucky, Marquette over North Carolina, Kansas over Richmond, Florida State over VCU (Seminoles cover at -4).

That annual rite of spring, the NFL draft, is just weeks away. Draft junkie Buffalo Wild Wang, M.D., joins Homerism for a podcast as they commence with their annual mock draft for 2011.

In Part I, Wang and I cover the first 16 picks, including:

• the Carolina Panther's top overall selection;
• a new offensive weapon for Sam Bradford; and
• what the Dallas Cowboys will do to get back to the top of the NFC East.

(Subscribe to the podcast through iTunes. Rate the podcast with iTunes, too, if you get a chance. Thanks.)

*Farewell, Brandon Wegher. Given the number of talented running backs on Oklahoma's roster, this one seemed weird from the start.

*Rivals' Tom Dienhart, he of the tardy coaching change reports, goes inside the inner-workings of the Sooners' new two-headed offensive coordinator plan. One thing I found interesting was the comment about Heupel's relationship with quarterback Landry Jones playing a role in the decision to give him play-calling responsibilities. Feel free to read way too much into that – like the parties involved are planning on this being a short-term situation.

*Scott Sutton is a candidate for the Missouri job. What, is Barry Hinson not available?

*Oh, and something tells me Mike Anderson isn't losing any sleep over this. (I really like Anderson, by the way. Good hire for the Hogs.)

*The state of Oklahoma takes its turn spitting in the "agents are bad" ocean.

*The Atlantic profiles the "Faulknerian" Yelawolf, a "rapper, skateboarder and drinker" out of Alabama. If you haven't yet, give Trunk Muzik 0-60 a spin.

*Picks for tonight's games: Florida over BYU, UConn over San Diego State, Duke over Arizona (Blue Devils cover the 9), Wisconsin over Butler.

*Toby Rowland will replace Bob Barry as the Oklahoma Sooners play-by-play announcer. Do people still listen to games on the radio?

*Love Mad Men? Well, sounds like we're going to be left longing for its return a little while longer.

*I really, really like the new Freakonomics site.

*I've been pretty firmly on Jalen Rose's side in the "Uncle Tom" controversy. Jason Whitlock puts things in a new light that go beyond the feud with Grant Hill.

*Texas linebacker Jordan Hicks will miss the rest of spring practice with a stress fracture in his foot. I doubt this will keep the beastly sophomore off the field in the fall.

*Did anyone actually expect Charles Barkley to be all that interested in college basketball? Personally, I tuned in when Barkley was dishing out his analysis – using the term loosely – for these kinds of shenanigans.

What better time to welcome the real beginning of the 2011 season than after a March Madness weekend? It's like going from kissing your hot girlfriend goodbye after she made you an amazing batch of XXX Ribs to spending the next eight hours at Riverwind raking in huge no-limit pots. I'm glad to be aboard Blatant Homerism from the beginning of what is supposed to be an elite season.

Which brings me to my point.

What's already started to wear on me are the proclamations that the Sooners are No. 1 in 2011. It makes for good print, but as someone who believes preseason polls are as meaningful as Lou Holtz predictions, "way too early" proclamations are even worse.

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*Forgot to mention yesterday that safety Kevin Brent has transferred. Brent arrived at Norman with high expectations, but he never cracked the two-deep. With Brent's departure, the Sooners remain two scholarships over the limit. Here's hoping everyone from this year's recruiting class makes it to campus.

*You want NCAA Tournament games, you got's to sell tickets, T-Town.

*Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight tackles the Big East's performance in the NCAA Tournament.

*I'm sure Bob Stoops and Co. will figure out a way to manufacture Greg Reid's comments yesterday into some sign of disrespect, but the guy is just saying he thinks Florida State will be better prepared to take on the Crimson and Cream this year.

*Sports by Brooks suggests that Notre Dame may have pulled a Tricky Dick Nixon with the footage it turned over to the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Declan Sullivan case. Then again, what do you expect from a crew that hides behind "proprietary knowledge" to keep investigators from acquiring the tapes in the first place?

I can't even begin to describe how pathetic this all is. It actually starts with the idea that our collective obsession with sports would lead to a situation in which this kid or his superiors would have even thought to send him up on that hydraulic lift in the first place. Honestly, we all need a reality check.

With Oklahoma running its customary closed spring practices, obviously there won't be much to report outside of Bob Stoops' typical post-practice palaver. Stoops did kick things off with an opening press conference today and dropped a few nuggets worth noting.

*Aaron Colvin's move to safety is still in the "experimental" stage, but Stoops appears pretty certain it's where Colvin will stay.

*Stoops is staying mum on Jamell Fleming.

*Stoops downplayed any potential disruption from shifting responsibilities among the coaching staff since Bruce Kittle was hired in the offseason.

*Here I've been talking up the opportunities for Brennan Clay and Brandon Williams with Roy Finch on the shelf, and it turns out that Finch is going through drills. Sounds like Dejuan Miller is a go, as is Ronnell Lewis.

*Don't think we'll be hearing much from OU's players on Twitter, at least nothing interesting.

*Stoops' mind games in the press are legendary, so when he praises the attitude of the entire team like he did today, he's not blowing smoke.

*For what it's worth, Stoops looks awfully confident. More loose than usual.

Case in point, when asked if he's anxious to see the conference schedule: "I don't really care. I mean, we'll play everybody. I guess you have to get hotel rooms on the road, so we have to know that."

We've already discussed the opportunities available to young buck Brandon Williams this spring. Here are five other Sooners to keep an eye on as Oklahoma opens spring camp this week:

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Heading into the 2004 season, the Oklahoma Sooners had nearly all of the pieces in place for another run at a national title – a Heisman-winning quarterback, the best receiver in school history, an experienced offensive line, a talented defense.

The big question: Who was going to carry the water in the running game?

Freshman phenom Adrian Peterson answered that one pretty quickly, running for nearly 2,000 yards on the season when all was said and done.

In 2007, redshirt freshman running back DeMarco Murray took Sooner Nation by storm. Last year, it was rookie runner Roy Finch.

Now, it's Brandon Williams' turn to turn some heads in Norman.

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