OU receiver Dejuan Miller out for season

[IE]

OU receiver Dejuan Miller out for season with knee injury



Oklahoma wide receiver Dejuan Miller sustained a torn meniscus in his right knee in practice on Tuesday and will miss the rest of the season, OU reported today.

Miller will have surgery next week and the recovery time is expected to be five months.

Miller, a junior from Metuchen, N.J., is fourth on the team with 15 catches for 199 yards.

The injury likely means more playing time for senior Cameron Kenney, who is fifth on the team with nine catches for 125 yards and a touchdown.

The meniscus is a C-shaped wedge of cartilage between the thigh and shin bones that acts as a cushion. Former OU tight end Jermaine Gresham missed all of 2009 with a similar injury. Gresham opted for stitches to repair the tear, which meant a longer recovery time.

Athletes can return quicker from some meniscus injuries with a procedure that removes the damaged cartilage, but that frequently creates more long-term challenges than a repair.

 

[IE]

What Miller's injury means to Sooners' offense




Oklahoma can overcome the loss of wide receiver Dejuan Miller. It won?t take anything special for Cameron Kenney other than to catch the football.

Miller, a junior from Metuchen, N.J., was lost for the year with a knee cartilage injury in practice Tuesday.

He was fourth on the team with 15 catches for 199 yards. Those aren?t huge numbers to have to replace, especially considering the Sooners? offensive productivity.

But Miller made his first start of the season last week against Iowa State. That?s a commentary on how he has prepared himself recently in practice and played on Saturday ? his two best games were in the Sooners? two previous games, Texas (five catches, 61 yards) and Cincinnati (three catches, 66 yards).

Miller last week said he?s glad to be making the most of his opportunity, that he now understands the value of diligence in practice and preparation. Don?t worry. Miller should be 100 percent for his senior year, and he?ll have another chance if he rehabs hard.

But now, it?s Cameron Kenney?s turn.

Kenney was a junior college transfer last season. Like Miller, he has tremendous ability. He?s not as big (6-1, 193, compared to Miller?s 6-4, 221), but is faster and more explosive.

But like Miller, he has yet to maximize his ability. Kenney said last year he was too nervous to contribute with any consistency. That led to a series of dropped passes and got him benched early. This year, Kenny played with confidence early and even made two starts.

But dropped passes against Florida State, Air Force and Cincinnati ? the last one wide open in the end zone ? hurt that confidence and sent him back to the bench.

All Kenney needs to do now is catch the football.

And if he can?t, it might be time for the Sooner to dust off senior Brandon Caleb, who had two 100-yard games last season but has all but disappeared on offense, getting into just two games.

 

[IE]

OU football talking points



In their heads
From the fabricated story tacked up in Oklahoma's locker room in '02, to Curtis Lofton going facemask-to-facemask with Chase Daniel in '07, to Sam Bradford's postgame claims of disrespect in '08, OU-Missouri has its drama. Now comes word that the Tigers supposedly circled Saturday's date on their schedule, smarting as they are from years of losing to the Sooners.


"Some of the coaches have told us they want to play us and have us circled," said OU center Ben Habern. "They know what we did to them in '08 (62-21 in the Big 12 championship), so they're obviously frustrated with that. They want to come out and play. We want to do the same thing.

"They're preparing hard, we're preparing hard. We know that 'GameDay' is going to be there. It's a national stage, basically. It's going to be a great game."

Complete game victory
The Sooners must feel good to walk on that national stage coming off their most complete performance of 2010. Landry Jones never looked sharper against Iowa State. His line kept him protected while opening wide lanes for OU's running backs. The defense excelled from start to finish for the first time this season. The Sooners committed just three penalties and lost just one fumble.

The uncertainty hovering over the team through September has given way to something much more optimistic, especially now that the Sooners are No. 1 in the BCS standings. If they win Saturday night, they might just keep their perch a while.

Roy
and the running game
DeMarco Murray comes to Missouri as OU's all-time leading scorer, and in hot pursuit of Joe Washington's career record for all-purpose yardage. Backup Mossis Madu has never run harder, and now freshman Roy Finch is healthy to give the Sooners one of the most exciting changeups in college football.

Missouri counters with a running game ranked 11th in the Big 12 Conference and 84th in the nation. Advantage: Sooners.

OU was able to win all three games against the touted Tigers in '07 and '08 by doing something Missouri could not - rushing the ball. Allen Patrick, Chris Brown and Madu all came up big in those victories. Murray, Madu and Finch will expect to do the same Saturday night at Faurot Field.