Blatant Homerism: Optimism about the Sooners on the offensive line
In the first game of the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024 season against Temple, they rolled out a starting offensive line of Jacob Sexton at left tackle, Geirean Hatchett at left guard, Branson Hickman at center, Febechi Nwaiwu at right guard, and Michael Tarquin at right tackle.
The Sooners were missing a key piece of the unit. Troy Everett, OU’s incumbent at center, was sidelined in the first half of the season with a leg injury. That’s why Hickman joined the team from SMU after spring practices, but he struggled with his own leg injury during preseason practices. Hickman made it all of 10 plays against the Owls before exiting the contest. With Hickman out, the Washington transfer Hatchett shifted from LG to center, which forced Sexton to move over from LT to LG. Tarquin, a transfer from USC, flipped from RT to LT. Michigan State transfer Spencer Brown came off the bench at right tackle.
It was a harbinger of things to come for the Sooners. All teams deal with injuries, but OU offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh was plugging holes and shuffling around the walking wounded last year to an absurd degree.
By looking at the distribution of snaps among the players on the OU’s OL last year, we can develop a better sense of just how patchwork the situation was. For example, the table below shows the top five players in terms of percentage of snaps received during the regular season:
(N.B.: All data courtesy of PFF.)
Nwaiwu (No. 54) was the closest thing to an ironman the Sooners had, logging about 93% of the total snaps of the season at right guard. The numbers tail off dramatically from there, however, with redshirt freshman Heath Ozaeta (No. 77) logging the second-highest share of total snaps at 64%. Sexton (No. 76) and Tarquin (No. 70) were both lost for the season after eight games, and each logged about 60% of OU’s total snaps. Everett (No. 52) got cleared in the middle of the season and started the last six games, earning about half the total snaps of the season at center.
To put the Sooners’ predicament into perspective, every SEC team OU faced last year had a minimum of four OLs who played at least 70% of their teams’ snaps in the regular season. Take a look at the snap distribution for the top five at Texas, for instance:
Check out LSU:
Here’s South Carolina:
OU’s SEC opponent from 2024 with the messiest situation up front was probably Alabama:
None even comes close to what OU dealt with.
All things being equal, Bedenbaugh apparently felt his best lineup was something like Sexton at LT, Hatchett at LG, Everett at C, Nwaiwu at RG, and Tarquin at RT. When all was said and done, that lineup played exactly zero snaps together. Moreover:
Tarquin played about 36% of the total snaps for the season at RT;
Sexton played 27% of the total snaps for the season at LT;
Hatchett played just 10 snaps all year at LG and was done for the season with an injury after game one; and
OU’s second, third and fourth options at C played half the snaps at the position.
To be clear, the shoddy play of the OU OL in ‘24 wasn’t just a case of catastrophic injuries. Significant personnel deficiencies severely undermined the unit’s performance from the jump. Bedenbaugh’s poor management of his group prior to the season played a key role in the fiasco.
On the flip side, the picture we got last year left an overly dire impression of the state of OU’s OL heading into 2025. One good sign: The competition in August this year seems geared toward determining the best among solid candidates to play specific positions. A year ago, it felt like Bedenbaugh was working to find the least-worst combination of a core group of players. For example, Sexton appeared poised to get a nod in the lineup, but would it be at guard or tackle? Was Hatchett a guard or a center? Should Tarquin play on the left side or the right?
Twelve months later, OU has legitimate battles taking place at multiple spots up front.
Center
Once he got back in action, center Troy Everett played some of the most consistent football of any OL on the ‘24 squad. Coaches also praise the returning starter’s leadership. OU’s front office didn’t import Jake Maikkula from Stanford during the spring transfer window with the hope that he would happily accept a backup role. Maikkula played nearly 800 snaps combined at center and guard for the Cardinal a year ago, and this could turn into one of the fiercest position battles of the preseason in Norman.
Guard
In Nwaiwu and Ozaeta, the Sooners have experienced players on the interior of the OL who saw highs and lows in ‘24. That experience counts for something. Ozaeta, in particular, has plenty of room to grow after getting pressed into service ahead of schedule last year. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, however, if either loses his job at some point to up-and-coming prospects Ryan Fodje and Eddy Pierre-Louis. Also, note that Maikkula saw more than 300 snaps at left guard for Stanford last season.
Tackle
The jockeying for the left tackle position could get feisty. Returnees include veteran Jacob Sexton and redshirt sophomore Logan Howland, who became one of OU’s more reliable blockers by the end of the ‘24 season. They will have to hold off the best OL recruit to join the Sooners in recent memory, true freshman Michael Fasusi. Frankly, Fasusi earning a starting nod over two players with starting experience would qualify as a solid development.
Meanwhile, right tackle is the only spot on the OL where OU doesn’t have a returning player who started multiple games for the Sooners last season. The coaching staff managed to acquire two experienced candidates to fill the opening in Luke Baklenko, another Stanford refugee who saw about 1,000 snaps for the Cardinal in the previous two seasons, and Western Carolina transfer Derek Simmons, who gets the distinction of most terrifying head shot. Fodje could even earn some reps before the end of the year.
Will this OL match some of the best we’ve seen in Norman in the last few decades? No. But don’t write this unit off based on last year’s implosion.
Through the Keyhole teams up with Homefield
Through the Keyhole is joining forces this season with Homefield Apparel to bring you the best in college sports apparel. Throughout the month of August, the Can’t Miss Kickoff event will include drops for an incredible amount of new items, so treat yourself to some new Homefield gear celebrating the start of the college football season.
Picks and Recs: The Naked Gun (2025)
Comedies have all but disappeared from major movie releases, which made it feel kind of strange to sit in a theater and watch something intended to make audiences laugh for 90 minutes. On top of that, star Liam Neeson and director Akiva Schaffer were taking a huge swing by rebooting possibly the funniest movie ever made. They didn’t knock it out of the park, but you can’t complain about a standup double.
Neeson nails his turn as Frank Drebin, even if he can’t live up to the gold standard of Leslie Nielsen. (Who can?) Neeson’s voice-over narration is particularly sharp. And casting Pamela Anderson in the Priscilla Presley role was inspired.
Nostalgia probably has me grading this version The Naked Gun on a curve, but I had a lot of fun watching it all the same.