Thursday injury report still leaves David Stone's availability for Oklahoma-Georgia a mystery

Maybe no news is good news?

Thursday’s availability report ahead of Oklahoma heading to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday didn’t reveal any updates other than wide receiver Jer’Michael Carter being downgraded from questionable to out. That put the Sooners with at least six players sidelined for their SEC opener.

Most notably, the statuses didn’t change for either defensive tackle David Stone or linebacker Kip Lewis. Stone was still listed as questionable, while Lewis was probable.

Based on the SEC availability report guidelines, questionable gives a player a 50% chance of playing that week. The odds jump to 75% as probable, so the Sooners can anticipate having Lewis suited up again.

The latest availability report still leaves Stone as the biggest question mark heading into Saturday after a rollercoaster of a week because of his injury.

Stone dislocated his left kneecap during practice on Monday. News of that obviously had Sooner Nation panicking, especially after it was initially reported that he could miss the rest of the season. According to OU head coach Brent Venables, Stone hit his knee into a scout-team player during a "jog-through."

Venables put everyone at ease a bit the next day when he said Stone’s X-Rays were positive and that his pain was a two on a scale from one to 10. He also added “if at all” when a reporter mentioned Stone possibly missing time. Venables’ optimism had OU fans hopeful, but even then, Stone not missing a single game seemed like a long shot.

Stone’s questionable status on the initial availability report on Wednesday made it seem more realistic, especially after reports from News 9's Toby Rowland of him “pushing to play this week.”

Friday night should bring more answers to OU fans about David Stone

The truth usually really comes out on Friday’s availability report, though, since it’s the night before the game. Whether or not Stone is upgraded to probable or downgraded to doubtful will basically solidify whether the Sooners will have him or not on Saturday.

A final availability report will then be released about 90 minutes before the 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday in case there's still any question at that point. If Stone is ultimately out, the Sooners would be without five starters while facing a top-3 opponent on the road to start SEC play.

Defensively, OU is already missing safety Michael Boganowski and linebacker Cole Sullivan. Sullivan is listed as the starter at SAM linebacker, but he’s not always in the starting lineup if Reggie Powers III goes out there first at cheetah. Regardless, Sullivan is a massive hit to the Sooners’ depth at linebacker.

The Sooners will be without starters left tackle Michael Fasusi and wide receiver Trell Harris on offense.

All that just means another 24 hours of waiting for Sooner Nation before we likely get a clearer picture of Stone's availability.

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