Could Oklahoma land a former 5-star and two-year starter from the SEC to play OT?
As Oklahoma mines the transfer portal for position-specific talent, could the Sooners turn to a former 5-star SEC starter to play offensive tackle?
Tennessee’s Wanya Morris has reportedly told Vols coaches he wants to enter the transfer portal, according to SI’s Tennessee affiliate. UT has 48 hours to officially enter his name into the portal.
Morris started 12 games at left tackle in 2019 and five in 2020 (plus two starts in as an extra tackle in UT’s heavy set).
He was SEC All-Freshman in ’19 and was a consistent performer in ’20.
The Vols may have uncertainty on their coaching staff as Jeremy Pruitt is reportedly on the hot seat.
The 6-foot-5, 320-pound was a 5-star prospect by 247 Sports out of Loganville, GA. He received a scholarship offer from Oklahoma (among dozens of other schools) but chose Tennessee over LSU, Florida State, Alabama and Arkansas.
Oklahoma unexpectedly lost junior right tackle Adrian Ealy to the NFL Draft, and it’s not known yet whether senior Erik Swenson — a member of the Associated Press All-Bowl Team for his performance against Florida — will opt-in for another senior season, per the NCAA’s COVID eligibility waiver for 2020.
The Sooners are getting back redshirt freshman Stacey Wilkins, who competed for the starting left tackle job in 2020 before opting out at mid-season, and true freshman Anton Harrison, who shared snaps with Swenson throughout his rookie season.
But offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh will want more competition at the position, especially if Swenson decides to leave.
Bedenbaugh has had a degree of success with transfers in recent years, landing R.J. Proctor from Virginia (he became a part-time starter in 2019) and Chris Murray from UCLA (he didn’t become eligible until late in the season but still got snaps with the starting offense).
Playing for Bedenbaugh also would seem an attractive proposition due to Bedenbaugh's success with putting linemen into the NFL. In addition to this year's draft (Creed Humphrey is widely projected as a first-round pick), Bedenbaugh pupils Ben Powers, Orlando Brown, Cody Ford and Bobby Evans have all moved onto big roles in the NFL. All have been starters in the previous two seasons, and Brown already has been to two Pro Bowls.
Other Sooners like Daryl Williams, Lane Johnson and Trent Williams — the latter two spending time recently as the game's highest-paid offensive linemen — give the program additional gravitas with o-line prospects.
