Oklahoma Football Spring Practice 2012: 5 Problems the Sooners Must Fix

Despite finishing with a 10-3 record last season and a convincing bowl victory, it wasn't the season many Sooner fans were expecting. Oklahoma began the season as BCS National Championship favorites and was expected to be in the big game, but a couple of horrible games and injuries to key players set them back on that journey.

This year, they return a total of 15 starters and once again should be considered one of the teams that have a great chance to not only win the Big 12, but reach the national championship. Once again, it won't be easy considering they have a very difficult schedule, but this is one of the more talented teams in the country.

With that said, here are five problems the Sooners must fix in the spring to have a successful regular season.

Defense

Mike Stoops is back on the sidelines for the Sooners after being fired as the head coach for Arizona. He'll have seven starters from this team last year to work with, but that doesn't mean that his job will be fairly easy.

There is a hole at cornerback with Jamell Fleming graduating, and this secondary wasn't exactly a bright spot last season. They allowed 241 yards in the air, which was 79th in the country, and had horrible performances against Baylor and Texas Tech where they allowed over 450 passing yards.

Now, Stoops does have oodles of talent to work with, but he has to do a much better job with this unit than Brent Venables did, or it will be a long year in the Big 12 for the Sooners.

Wide Receiver

When wide receiver Ryan Broyles was in the game, this Sooners offense was clicking, as they scored over 40 points six times in nine games. When he got hurt in the game against Texas A&M and missed the remainder of the season, the Sooners' highest point total was 38 against a Baylor team that played absolutely no defense whatsoever.

They scored 26 against Iowa State and only 10 against an Oklahoma State team that allowed 27 on average and had a secondary that allowed 271 yards in the air.

Basically what I'm saying is that now that Broyles has moved on, the Sooners need to find a legitimate No.1 wide receiver to take his place. Junior wide receiver Kenny Stills would make the most logical sense, considering he's caught 122 passes his first two seasons.

Wide receivers that need to have a bigger impact include Kameel Jackson and Jaz Reynolds. Jackson played in limited time due to injuries, but finished his freshman season with 12 catches for 165 yards, and Reynolds was the third-leading receiver on the team last season with 41 catches and five touchdowns.

If these receivers can make a name for themselves and shine, the offense will click like it did for majority of the year last season. If not, it could be a year like how the season ended for the Sooners. 

Running Back

Oklahoma had an average running game last season that averaged 162 yards on the ground, which was seventh in the Big 12 and 50th best in the country. This year, there are questions at the running back position that need answers.

Running back Dominique Whaley is still rehabbing from a broken ankle he suffered in the game against Kansas. Roy Finch really stepped up in his absence, averaging 5.5 yards per carry and scoring three times, but he is a smaller back that can't carry the entire workload. 

Junior Brennan Clay will get his touches, although he's never really gotten going his first two seasons averaging less than four yards per carry and only scoring once. Sophomore Danzel Williams is an explosive player, but doesn't have any experience on the football field. Quarterback Blake Bell also rushed for 13 touchdowns last year as well on only 44 carries.

Everybody should receive plenty of opportunities during the spring, but a couple of these players need to step up while Whaley continues to recover from his injury.

Make It out Healthy

Oklahoma was one of the more talented teams in the country last season, but it doesn't do you much good if many of those players are banged up on the sidelines. The injury bug really affected this team last season and played a huge part in why Oklahoma didn't accomplish for what they set out for.

Now, I'm not saying injuries are the only reason the Sooners weren't crowned champions, but it didn't help. Losing running back Dominique Whaley was a huge blow considering he had 627 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in six games.

Ryan Broyles was also a big part of the offense, as he finished his career with 349 receptions for 4,586 yards and 45 touchdowns. When he went down with a knee injury, the Sooners lost two of their final four games. This doesn't include a banged-up defensive line and injuries to cornerback Jamell Fleming and linebacker Travis Lewis.

Oklahoma has several question marks heading into the season, but just making it out healthy will be a huge victory in itself.

Landry Jones, Step Up Your Game

While many will be focusing on the back-up quarterback battle, I'm worried about the starter.

Landry Jones went from being a first-round pick in this year's NFL draft to possibly playing his way out of the first round. So he decided to return to school for his senior season and not only work on his game, but also accomplish the goals that the Sooners had last year as a team.

Jones has all of the tools to be a great quarterback. He has great size, has the strong arm and can make any throw on the football field, as he's completed over 60 percent of his passes the last two seasons. But throwing 15 interceptions is not going to get the job done for a possible national championship team.

There were only three games all season where he didn't throw at least one interception. In the three losses, he threw a combined four interceptions, two of which were in the horrible game against Oklahoma State, where he only completed 54 percent of his passes.

The senior quarterback has shown bright spots throughout his career, but he'll need to play like he did in 2010 if the Sooners want to play in the big game at the end of the year.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].