Why Kevin Wilson Believes Oklahoma's Offensive Line is in a 'Better Place'

Kevin Wilson believes last year’s growing pains will lead to success for Oklahoma’s offensive line in 2026.

OU got through its grueling November slate with three freshmen — two true freshmen in Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fodje and a redshirt freshman, Eddy Pierre-Louis — starting up front.

Those experiences, paired with the return of starting center Jake Maikkula and veteran Heath Ozaeta, mean the Sooners have plenty of conference starts under their belts.

“It was sink or swim and last year was a lot of hard swimming for those guys,” Wilson, OU’s associate head coach for offense, said on The Oklahoma Breakdown podcast with Gabe Ikard and Teddy Lehman.

The young trio was able to stand up well enough to notch wins in Knoxville and Tuscaloosa while holding off Missouri and LSU in Norman, in part due to the battles they endured every day on the practice field.

“Even though we were young, they played a lot. And they played a lot against some great defensive guys in practice so that actually accelerates the process,” Wilson said.

Fasusi, Fodje, Pierre-Louis, Maikkula, Ozaeta and the addition of Arkansas transfer right tackle E’Marion Harris give the Sooners the most experience they’ve had up front entering a season in years.

But Bill Bedenbaugh’s unit still has to make it through fall camp in one piece — something that’s been a struggle for the past few seasons.

“You've got to stay consistent and healthy,” Wilson said. “You've got to keep showing up where they are consistently having good days. But we're starting at a much higher production or performance than we were a year ago just because of knowledge, experience, strength, size, all those things.”

Bedenbaugh has finally been able to stack a few recruiting classes together and supplemented his room through the portal to build a group that has experience if it stays healthy.

Still, he’ll have to work throughout the fall to build depth across the board.

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OU added Western Kentucky center Caleb Nitta and Georgia Tech offensive lineman Peyton Joseph to help fill out the two-deep, and early reviews were positive for freshmen Noah Best and Deacon Schmitt coming out of spring practice.

Things project to be better up front in 2026, but neither Wilson nor Bedenbaugh is satisfied as fall camp approaches in August.

“It is a critical position,” Wilson said. “We have to stay healthy. We're not as deep, and I think most teams are, you're not as deep in the o-line as we used to be.

“So that position's got to develop. It's got to evolve. It's got to play well. It needs to stay healthy so it can stay consistent. But we are at a better place o-line.”

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