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Transfer Talk: What Oklahoma is Getting in OL Febechi Nwaiwu

The Sooners' newest offensive lineman hit the transfer portal after three years at North Texas, where he obviously made an impression on new OC Seth Littrell.

John E. Hoover

Transfer Talk: What Oklahoma is Getting in OL Febechi Nwaiwu
Transfer Talk: What Oklahoma is Getting in OL Febechi Nwaiwu /
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Seth Littrell didn’t hesitate to add Febechi Nwaiwu to Oklahoma’s offensive line equation in 2024.

The Sooners’ new offensive coordinator simply looked at his notes from coaching Nwaiwu at North Texas — Freshman All-American in 2022, team captain in 2023 — and made a quick pitch to offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and head coach Brent Venables.

“You know, Freshman All-America, that speaks to what he’s capable of on the field, and then sophomore, being elected captain, speaks to the intangibles and the things he brings off the field,” said North Texas play-by-play announcer Dave Barnett. “Nobody knows this better than Seth Littrell. He recruited him. So there’s a reason he wanted him at OU.”

Barnett called Mavericks, Spurs and Rangers games for most of the last three decades. He’s been on the mic for the Mean Green since 2015. The radio team doesn’t usually form close bonds with players on the team, but they’re around them frequently on road trips and of course in interview settings. Barnett told AllSooners why he liked what he saw in Nwaiwu.

Febechi Nwaiwu
Febechi Nwaiwu / UNT Athletics

“He strikes me as kind of the strong, silent type,” Barnett said. “Just the way he goes about his business speaks and makes him a leader,” Barnett said, “and that’s what his teammates were responding to when they made him captain as such a young player.”

Nwaiwu’s parents are from Nigeria. At Coppell, TX, he wasn’t a priority recruit in the 2021 class — 247 Sports and Rivals didn’t even have him rated as a high school prospect — even though he played interior offensive line at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds. He also threw the shot put and discus in high school. Nwaiwu had an offer from FCS Illinois State, but instead chose to walk on at North Texas.

“Yeah, and that’s actually a fairly typical story at North Texas,” Barnett said. “There have been lots of walk-ons who turned into some of the best players. … That’s something that North Texas has had to do not having a steady stream of 4-stars coming through the door.”

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Nwaiwu (pronounced “Fuh-BETCH-ee WEE-wu”) got minimal action for the Mean Green as a true freshman, playing just 16 offensive snaps in two games and taking a redshirt. He told the Denton Record Chronicle he figured he’d come to UNT to play center, but he wasn’t needed there as Manase Mose was entrenched — enough so that he set an all-time NCAA record with 62 consecutive starts in his North Texas career.

In 2022, Nwaiwu wasn’t necessarily slated for starting duty either, but when starting guard Daizion Carroll went down with an injury, Nwaiwu stepped in and started the next 12 games.

He ended the season with second-team Freshman All-America accolades from The Athletic and third-team by College Football News. He made the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and was chosen third-team All-CUSA by Pro Football Focus and Phil Steele in Littrell’s final season as head coach.

Febechi Nwaiwu
Febechi Nwaiwu / UNT Athletics

Under new coach Eric Morris in 2023, Nwaiwu moved to right tackle in the spring. After being voted by his teammates as team captain, Nwaiwu started two games at right tackle, then shifted back inside to right guard. He started five more games at his old spot, but then an ankle injury knocked him out of the starting lineup.

Nwaiwu still logged 713 offensive snaps in 2023, and posted an overall offensive grade of 70.4, according to Pro Football Focus. He graded at 64.0 or better in six of his 10 games, and graded below 55 only once. Among his highest PFF grades in 2023 was his 79.6 against Temple and his 66.5 against Tulane — two teams the Sooners face this year in non-conference play. Nwaiwu played 105 snaps in the final game against UAB and posted a 73.6 offensive grade.

In 2022, Nwaiwu played 883 offensive snaps and posted an overall offensive grade of 64.8 for the season.

Both years he was in the lineup, North Texas’ offense thrived.

2023-24 Oklahoma Player Tracker

In 2022, the Mean Green ranked No. 25 nationally in rushing (199.86 yards per game) and 36th in passing (261.9), and in 2023, they ranked No. 12 in passing (304.7) and 21st in rushing (191.2).

“The offense was really better last year, and partly because Chandler Rogers brought a running element to quarterback that Austin Aune didn’t," Barnett said. "So that was on the offensive line to hold their blocks long enough to either get rid of it, or have room to get outside and show his speed."

At Oklahoma, Nwaiwu will be immediately in the mix to start. The Sooners lost their entire starting five from 2023 as center Andrew Raym and right tackle Tyler Guyton opted for the NFL Draft, and left tackle Walter Rouse and right guard McKade Mettauer graduated. The hole at left guard was created when co-starters Savion Byrd and Cayden Green transferred to SMU and Missouri, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bedenbaugh has landed just three offensive linemen from the transfer portal: Nwaiwu, Michigan State's Spencer Brown and USC's Michael Tarquin (who also played at Florida). More are expected to be on the way — possibly very soon.

Nwaiwu's climb from unrecruited walk-on to Freshman All-American to North Texas captain to Oklahoma Sooner has been impressive. But plenty more chapters may yet be written.

“The coaching staff … has been really adept at finding these kids like Febechi — and seeing what they can be,” Barnett said. “They have a little bit to go on — obviously he was a really good player at Coppell — but what Seth and his staff had to do was picture him in two years. Two years in the weight program, two years in the nutrition program, two years familiarizing himself with the system, and look at how well he’s paid off. What a great call that was by Seth to see the potential that nobody else saw.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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