Oklahoma is Building Much-Needed Depth Behind Center Jake Maikkula

NORMAN — Oklahoma is happy to have an NFL-caliber talent back at center in Jake Maikkula, but the position looks much more stable in 2026 behind the fifth-year leader.

When Maikkula went down at the end of the 2025 season, the entire right side of OU’s offensive line had to be reshuffled.

Febechi Nwaiwu slid to the middle from right guard, and Ryan Fodje bumped in from tackle to take Nwaiwu’s spot at guard.

This year, Bill Bedenbaugh has a pair of options to provide depth for Maikkula.

The Sooners added senior Caleb Nitta from Western Kentucky, but Nitta missed a bit of time during the spring, opening the door for freshman Noah Best.

“Noah Best has done a really good job as a young guy,” Bedenbaugh said last week.

Best, a 6-foot-4, 319-pound Midlothian, Texas, product, made the most of his opportunity to shine throughout the spring.

“He's incredible. He's going to be a really good player for OU in years to come,” Maikkula said.

Best never shied away from asking questions in offensive line meetings, Maikkula said, which has put him in a strong position before taking an official snap for the Sooners.

“(He’s) just a guy that picked up the offense pretty well,” Maikkula said. “And then just in terms of his leadership playing the center position and just his development, some of the stuff he put on tape, I was really impressed by. Just a great guy too. Really fun to hang out with. Good kid."

Best signed with the Sooners, rated as a consensus 3-star recruit, and he and his classmate Deacon Schmitt are battling to be in the two-deep when OU kicks off on Sept. 4.

After getting back healthy, Maikkula said Nitta made great progress through the summer as well.

Nitta played in 11 games last year at Western Kentucky, making nine starts at center, after transferring from Virginia Tech, where he played his first two years of college.

His starting experience allows for Nitta and Maikkula to run through film and bounce ideas off each other.

“Really good dude. Really smart player, so brought a lot of that,” Maikkula said. “We kind of pin things off of each other, you know, like certain questions we had about different looks. Or like, 'Hey, how would you treat this and how would I treat this?' Just kind of comparing notes on certain things and kind of learning from each other's games. It was really helpful for both of us.”

The depth and competition behind Maikkula is a welcome sight for an offensive line that hopes to be much better this fall.

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