Oklahoma Still Piecing Together Its Offensive Line as the Season Approaches

Position battles are still raging across Bill Bedenbaugh's offensive line as Oklahoma's first SEC campaign inches closer.

Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh before one of the Sooners' practices during fall camp. / Ryan Chapman / Sooners on SI

NORMAN — The biggest question facing Oklahoma through fall camp, the starting five for the offensive line, won’t get answered publicly until the Sooners open the season against Temple. 

Brent Venables, who returned just Jacob Sexton’s starting experience, is playing coy with the lineup as offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh tinkers away. 

New defensive tackle Damonic Williams backed the group before the team even donned full pads and moved the preseason operation to OU’s Rugby Fields, an early endorsement from the Sooners’ marquee summer defensive line addition. 

“They’re going to be great. Without a doubt,” Williams said at the start of the month. “All those doubts about the o-line, you all can just stop that. Because this defense and this offense, it’s going to be something surprising.”

Venables and Bedenbaugh signed a horde of experienced transfers up front to beef up the trenches. Getting all those new faces on the same page was the primary goal of this past summer.

“We’ve gotten so much closer,” North Texas transfer Febechi Nwaiwu said. “… We spent a lot of time with each other, a lot of time watching film with each other. Eating with each other, working out with each other. So our o-line group is pretty tight.”

Nwaiwu and Sexton feel like safe bets to start if healthy against Temple, though Sexton could start at either tackle or guard, leaving three more spots up for grabs. 

Jake Taylor has gotten lots of run alongside Nwaiwu at right tackle throughout spring practice and fall camp, and Nwaiwu has been proud of Taylor’s continued development. 

“He’s very physical,” Nwaiwu said. “He’s got a lot of physicality. They’re getting him a lot of reps. He’s getting a lot of experience. He’s growing as a player and a person. That’s what I love about him.”

Other options at tackle include a pair experienced hands in USC transfer Michael Tarquin and Michigan State transfer Spencer Brown, and redshirt freshman Heath Ozaeta has continued to grow as he battles for a spot at left guard. 

Continued physical development is a given under strength coach Jerry Schmidt, but Sexton said he’s been most impressed by the mental leaps Ozaeta has taken from the start of spring practice to now. 

“He came in freshman year, you know, a lot of guys are timid, but he came in aggressive,” Sexton said. “This year, I think he’s really stepped into that mentality of being ready, just going against bigger guys to be ready for the SEC. I think he’s come in strong.”

Heath Ozaeta (77) runs drills during an OU football practice in Norman, Okla., on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

SMU transfer Branson Hickman and redshirt freshman Joshua Bates are leading the way at center, but regardless of the five who will start against Temple, Jackson Arnold has full faith in the unit protecting him. 

“I’ve really seen that o-line gel,” the OU quarterback said. “… They’ve all come in and created a really good brotherhood. And just got really close to each other to where they’re at the point where they’re holding each other accountable.”

The battles will rage into the season, and Bedenbaugh isn’t afraid to try different combinations throughout the non-conference slate. 

“I like our leadership there and the toughness there and the schemes we have,” Venables said. “… That’s a hard-working group of dudes, those guys up front.”