Spring Preview: Why Oklahoma's Promising OL Also Could Be a Major Problem
The task facing Bill Bedenbaugh this spring is a big one. Maybe his biggest.
Bedenbaugh must rebuild an experienced and talented Oklahoma offensive line with a cache of inexperience and transfers.
An old football aphorism suggests that offenses can only call what the quarterback can execute and what the offensive line can block. If that holds true this season, with a first-year starting quarterback and an entirely rebuilt offensive line, the Sooners’ first season in the Southeastern Conference could be a rough one.
In center Andrew Raym, guard McKade Mettauer, tackle Walter Rouse, tackle Tyler Guyton, and guards Cayden Green and Savion Byrd, Bedenbaugh lost 11,037 career collegiate snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, and 157 career starts. Some of those came at Cal (Mettauer), Stanford (Rouse) and TCU (Byrd), but they all proved their value to Bedenbaugh’s o-line room last season. They’ll be missed this year, no matter where they began their college football careers.
There are two players on the roster who have taken snaps for Bedenbaugh at Oklahoma: tackle Jacob Sexton and guard/center Troy Everett. Sexton, a tantalizingly talented third-year sophomore from Edmond, has five career starts. Everett, a fourth-year junior transfer from Appalachian State, has 10 — but only four at OU.
Bedenbaugh did replace some of the departures by dipping into the transfer portal, and it’s unlikely the Sooners are done adding. In Spencer Brown (Michigan State), Febechi Nwaiwu (North Texas), Michael Tarquin (Florida and USC) and Geirean Hatchett (Washington), Bedenbaugh at least has some major college football experience with which he can work.
Three of the four have extensive experience, with Brown a two-year starting right tackle for the Spartans, Nwaiwu a two-year starting right guard for the Mean Green and Tarquin a two-year starting tackle for the Gators and Trojans. Hatchett (four career starts) had limited experience with the Huskies.
In all, OU’s four newcomers have played 4,567 career snaps, per PFF, and made 66 career starts. That goes a long way toward offsetting the loss of Raym, Mettauer and others, even if all four of the newcomers must learn a new offense, a new coordinator, a new position coach and a whole bunch of new teammates.
There is value in their versatility. Hatchett has played four o-line positions and jumbo tight end. Febechi has started two games at tackle. Tarquin has a start at left tackle. And Brown has two starts at left tackle.
Sexton has played both left tackle and right tackle in his first two seasons at OU, and Everett played both center and guard last year.
So who else can Bedenbaugh roll out?
Start in the middle, where redshirt freshman center Joshua Bates would seem a logical choice to replace Raym, although he played in just one game last season. Bates is a roughhouser whose talent will catch up to his effort and attitude the more experience he gets.
Sophomore Jake Taylor has played both right tackle and right guard in his two seasons with the Sooners and might project long-term at tackle. He’s played 88 career snaps, per PFF, with eight games in 2022 and four in 2023.
Two members of the freshman class of 2023 — tackle Logan Howland and guard Heath Ozaeta — only played in one game last season and each logged four snaps, but do appear to be at least rotational players this season as Bedenbaugh looks for his starting five.
Bedenbaugh did add an appealing amount of talent in the 2024 class as well. Although it would be unlikely (and unfair) to expect any of the five freshmen to compete for a starting job, it wouldn’t be a shock if someone quickly emerged like a Green did last year.
Guard Eddy Pierre-Louis might be the best equipped for immediate playing time, although guard Eugene Brooks has the stature and attitude to break into the lineup. It might take longer for tackles Josh Aisosa, Daniel Akinkunmi and Isaiah Autry to get into the rotation early, but the talent and the physical skills are clearly already in place.
Bedenbaugh recruits talent. But he also develops it, teaches it. The Sooners must replace a lot of departed players — three of whom will be at the NFL Combine. So who's next? Bedenbaugh will spend 15 spring practices trying to figure that out.
He's had to restock before, and he has the pieces to do it again this year.
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