Oklahoma injury worries ease after Brent Venables' blunt response on practice

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables is always tight-lipped about player availablities, but his two simple words he slipped during Monday's press conference at least created a glimmer of hope for the Sooners' biggest concerns before hosting Alabama on Friday night in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Defensive end R Mason Thomas and center Jake Maikkula, both starters, missed the Sooners' regular-season finale against LSU on Nov. 29. With no game or real update since, fans have been worried about missing a key piece on both sides of the ball in a rematch against Bama with the season on the line.

R Mason Thomas, Jake Maikkula injury update

SoonerScoop's George Stoia during Monday's presser asked Venables if he planned on Thomas and Maikkula practicing this week before the game, and the few words Stoia got out of Venables can be enough to at least create optimism for Thomas and Maikkula being available on Friday.

"I do," Venables answered.

Just like ahead of conference games, daily availability reports will be released leading up to Friday, with the first coming on Tuesday and the final one coming out just 90 minutes before kickoff. Tuesday will be the first clear update fans will get on the status of players, including Thomas and Maikkula.

Regardless, the Sooners already beat Bama without Thomas once before. That trip to Alabama was the Sooners' first game without Thomas after he injured his quad against Tennessee while returning a fumble for a touchdown. The injury sidelined Thomas for OU's final three games of the regular season, which were all victories for the Sooners. Even while missing those three games, Thomas still leads the Sooners with 6.5 sacks, so he's obviously a massive benefit despite OU winning without him.

After missing the season opener, Maikkula started every game before being sidelined against LSU because of an infection that put him in the hospital. The Sooners are extremely thin at the position, so Maikkula's absence forced starting right guard Febechi Nwaiwu to slide over and make his first career start at center.

If Venables' short response is a foreshadow of the Sooners getting both starters back, then they will be closer to 100% than they've been all season, especially compared to when OU beat Bama 23-21 in Round 1.