Freshman OT Ryan Fodje Was a Bright Spot on a Gloomy Day for Oklahoma's Offense

The true freshman started his first game at right tackle against Ole Miss after a midweek injury forced him into the lineup.

Oklahoma Sooners offensive lineman Ryan Fodje warms up before taking on Michigan. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the few bright spots for Oklahoma on Saturday was true freshman Ryan Fodje. 

The Sooners found a rushing attack in the win over South Carolina, but then Bill Bedenbaugh’s unit suffered a setback. 

Right tackle Derek Simmons sustained an injury during the week that held him out of the game. The shuffling along the offensive line forced Fodje to move from guard out to tackle against Ole Miss, but the 4-star recruit looked in his element in OU’s 34-26 loss. 

“I thought he looked good,” OU coach Brent Venables said on Saturday. “Watching all of it play out, he protected good, thought he played with confidence.”

Fodje played all 67 snaps on offense, per Pro Football Focus, which set a new season-high. Previously, Fodje had logged 56 snaps on offense against Illinois State, 22 snaps against Temple and 24 snaps against Kent State, but most of those opportunities came at guard. 

“I’m really proud of that guy,” Oklahoma guard Febechi Nwaiwu said on Saturday. “He only worked really two days and he went out there, he balled. He dominated. Especially being a young guy getting just kind of thrown into a position, he really excelled.”

By the end of the game, redshirt freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis had replaced Heath Ozaeta at left guard, meaning the Sooners were rolling with Fodje, Pierre-Louis and true freshman Michael Fasusi up front. 

“I thought Ryan Fodje stepped in and played a really nice game. Fasusi had his hands full,” Venables said during his Sunday coaches show. “I thought he did some really good things, and on a couple of plays, like you would expect, he played like a freshman. I thought Eddy Pierre-Louis got in the game and I thought he was really good. He was physical, played fast, knocked people back, sustained blocks.”

Injuries forced the Sooners into playing young pieces up front last year. 

Fasusi was expected to play by the end of fall camp, a process that was only expedited by the injury to Jacob Sexton. 

Oklahoma offensive lineman Ryan Fodje blocks Temple defensive back Dontae Pollard in the Sooners' win over the Owls. | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

With another wave of injuries forcing Fodje into action across from Fasusi, Saturday marked the first time in program history that OU started a pair of true freshman offensive tackles.

“To do what those guys are doing right now as true freshmen is not the norm,” Venables said. “And they were far from perfect, but they were pretty dang good. And all things considered for Ryan (Fodje) — who had just a few days to move from guard, where he’s been since he got here in January, to tackle — to be able to execute is pretty remarkable to say the least.”

Venables believes that Fasusi and Fodje have the right mentality to continue to grow rapidly throughout the end of the season, too. 

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“I love their belief and their toughness,” Venables said on Sunday. “They are leaders. They’re not passive in any way. They’re super submissive when it comes to receiving encouragement and guidance from older guys, where sometimes guys are too cool for school and don’t receive that well. They are very humble. But they also have great confidence in themselves, too, and their ability.”

Saturday marked the fifth different offensive line combination to start in the Sooners’ eight contests in 2025.

Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said he likes to rotate different offensive line groupings in at practice for the entire position group to gel if someone misses a game, but the unit is still a work in progress with so many young pieces in the fold. 

“I’ve said it a lot, that unit is a unit of cohesion and chemistry,” Arbuckle said on Saturday. “The good thing, though, is that all of these guys get a lot of reps with us. They get a lot of reps throughout practice. A lot of these guys have gotten game reps this year. So, if someone goes down, it’s next man up. You have to figure out a way. 

“So, I was proud of those guys. I think they did a lot of really good things today.”