With Oklahoma beginning the second week of its spring practice this week, running back Dominique Whaley is still on the sideline thanks to a broken ankle suffered halfway through the 2011 season. The good news for the Sooners is that Whaley's recovery process is going well enough for the Sooners to think he'll be back and ready to practice with the team this summer.The Oklahoman reports that Whaley is ahead of schedule in his rehab and should be good to go come those hot August afternoons.
“He looks good,” running backs coach Cale Gundy told the paper. “I saw a little bit more stuff (Tuesday than I normally see) and he was running around a little bit faster.
“He's amazing. He did a tremendous job of motivating himself [during the rehab process]. He works just as hard on individual stuff that he has to do. Compared with what everybody else is doing with weights he's doing his own stuff just as hard.”
Whaley was one of the better stories in college football last season, emerging seemingly from out of nowhere.
Whaley went from a walk-on who was slinging sandwiches at Subway to Oklahoma's leading rusher with 627 yards and 9 touchdowns. All despite the fact he missed Oklahoma's last seven games of the season.
All of Oklahoma's losses in 2011 came after Whaley broke his ankle, showing how important he was to the offense along with wide receiver Ryan Broyles. It also shows how big of an impact Whaley's return could have on Oklahoma's chances to claim another Big 12 title in 2012.
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