Oklahoma's Offensive Line Growing Through Inexperience
So far this season the Oklahoma offensive line has been a mixed bag.
Struggling to protect Spencer Rattler or open up running lanes through their first four games, they saw great improvement two weeks ago against the Kansas State Wildcats, except for a bundle of backbreaking penalties.
Last week against Texas, the unit came on strong in the second half, but struggled to early on and still had a handful of assignment busts in their protection.
Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh said he is seeing signs of progress, but his position group had to find a baseline level of play to be the unit they want to be in the second half of the season.
“Very inconsistent. Some really, really good things and some really, really bad things,” Bedenbaugh said during a press conference on Tuesday. “Some of it is inexperience at Some important positions. Some of it is preparation. Some of it is obviously coaching, as it falls on me. I do think we’ve gotten better.”
Replacing a pair of starters off of last year’s offensive line, the path forward was never going to be smooth.
Last year’s center, Creed Humphrey, is starting on Sunday’s for the Kansas City Chiefs. After playing right guard a year ago, Tyrese Robinson has kicked out to right tackle to replace Adrian Ealy, and Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris have split time at left tackle instead of super senior Erik Swenson.
Not to mention, the Sooners are breaking in a freshman at center in Andrew Raym, who didn’t feature in much of the early action in OU’s first two games.
With so many new pieces, Bedenbaugh said the offensive line has found success getting back to the basics after their poor showing against West Virginia in Week 4.
“I think the West Virginia game wasn’t very good, and that’s 100 percent on me,” Bedenbaugh said. “I put them in some pass protection situations that I thought we could handle, but we couldn’t. That was my fault. After that, we’ve had to simplify things here and there to make it a little easier. I think we’ve gotten better, and it has shown up in the last couple of weeks.”
Part of the struggles so far this year fall at the new contributors having to learn what it means to feature along the OU offensive line week-in and week-out, and adjusting to the work load outside of practice each lineman has to dedicate to honing his craft.
“If you just put in the four hours a day here, and that’s all you do, you’re never going to reach your potential,” Bedenbaugh said. “I think they’re getting better at doing that. We are getting better, so those things are improving. We have to continue to work hard.”
One of those guys who has to continue to work to learn more is Raym.
A highly touted prospect out of Broken Arrow, OK, Raym is seeing his first action at center throughout his entire career. On top of the added responsibilities of playing center in general, Bedenbaugh is known for his intricate blocking schemes, meaning Raym must digest that much more to prepare for each contest.
“He’s getting better,” Bedenbaugh said. “He’s inexperienced, you know. I mean, he’s extremely inexperienced. He just has not seen the things that previous guys have… I’ve got to get him up to speed, but understanding defenses, understanding that things change week to week, and when we come in here Monday and we have a game plan, you’ve gotta process it, you gotta do it.
“That’s part of being the center. And he’s getting it. He’s getting better, but unfortunately, it’s a process.”
The line has turned to Robinson to lead them this season, and while Bedenbaugh is pleased with his job leading the unit, there’s still a ways the line still has to go to continue to improve this year.
“He’s been the leader. Tyrese has done awesome,” Bedenbaugh said. ”He’s really probably exceeded my expectations at tackle… And Tyrese was a leader from the beginning. That hasn’t changed much. But obviously, they’ve got a trust and they’ve got to listen to the center.
“Even if he calls something wrong, and you know it’s wrong, you’ve got to do it, we can make it work. And that’s what they’ve got to do a better job of. That’s been some of our issues. This guy knows what the call should be. He may make another call. I don’t care. Do what he called. We’ll make it work.”
It’s been a bumpy road so far, but the last two weeks have provided optimism that the Oklahoma offensive line can still live up to their lofty expectations in 2021.
“You just got to continue to work, you got to continue to prepare, you got to continue to fight, you got to continue to get better,” Bedenbaugh said. “I mean, that’s what it’s all about. Fortunately, we’re 6-0, we’re getting better.
“Are we where we need to be? No. We’re not. But if we continue to build off of last week and understand the preparation that it took to be successful.”
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