Brent Venables gives injury report heading into fall camp

Oklahoma dealt with some injuries during spring practices. It appears they'll deal with some heading into fall camp, too.

With fall camp beginning on Thursday, OU coach Brent Venables gave a detailed injury report during his press conference on Tuesday. Most of the injuries date back to spring practices or earlier, though most of them are trending in the right direction.

Here's an overview of every player Venables mentioned:

The sophomore left tackle tore his ACL early in last year's Cheez-It Bowl, causing him to miss all of spring practices.

Venables said Sexton is progressing well but the team is being cautious.

"He could be ready to play," Venables said. "He's ahead of his timeline. He's looked terrific. We're really going to work hard to protect him because he's just naturally eager, aggressive. We don't want to put him in a compromising position so we're gonna help him with that. But sometime in the middle-to-later September is when he would have full clearance, if you will."

The Texas transfer had tonsil surgery and will miss the first few days of fall camp, Venables said.

Redshirt junior receiver J.J. Hester will also be out to start fall camp with a foot injury.

The redshirt freshman missed the spring as he recovered from meniscus surgery. Venables said he's not sure when Helms will return.

"Hate it for him. He works incredibly hard," Venables said. He's fighting like heck to get back."

Fellow tight end Jason Llewellyn will also miss at least the start of camp.

Venables confirmed that Lacey has dealt with blood clots, but he could return in late September.

"He's in a really good place. There's a lot of what you don't know but based on his progress and doctors and tests and things of that nature, I think you'll see him back in one of the sooner target dates. That may be in the latter part of September or so. But he's doing a lot, conditioning and lifting and things, but he's in no-contact right now. But he's in great spirits and in a really good place mentally."

Redshirt senior lineman Phil Paea, a new transfer, is returning from an ACL injury and may be limited to start fall camp.

Whitter, who missed much of the 2022 season, is fully cleared for fall camp.

The sophomore had shoulder surgery midway through spring, but Venables expects him to return in early September.

Freshman defensive back Eric McCarty is going to be eased into fall camp after suffering an ACL injury.