Oklahoma’s offense still has work to do before the season gets rolling, but the Sooners are feeling good about one area that can change everything: the offensive line.
That group is coming back with real experience, and more importantly, a lot of growth. OU closed last season with a young starting mix of Michael Fasusi, Ryan Fodje and Eddy Pierre-Louis next to two veterans on the way to the College Football Playoff. Now center Jake Maikkula is back for 2026, Arkansas transfer E’Marion Harris has been added, and the biggest reason for optimism is how quickly the younger players have developed.
“It’s a good unit, man. They got a lot better over the spring,” OU general manager Jim Nagy said at SEC Media Days.
Oklahoma’s front office and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh worked to keep the group together, and that effort paid off in a major way. Between Fasusi, Fodje, Pierre-Louis, Maikkula and offensive guard Heath Ozaeta, the Sooners are bringing back 47 starts made for Oklahoma.
That matters even more when so many of those snaps came from players in their first or second year. There was plenty of room for that unit to level up, and Nagy said it has happened.
“If you just look at those guys individually, Heath Ozaeta had his best spring,” Nagy said. “Ryan Fodje and Fasusi have taken a big jump.
Like last year, think about that. Michael Fasusi was a 17-year-old kid in a grown man’s league playing a grown man’s position.”
Fasusi, who made 11 total appearances last season, was voted to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team. Nagy believes he is still only scratching the surface of what he can become in 2026.
“Even - I’ll say it this way. Even when he blocked R Mason Thomas last year in practice, it looked hard,” Nagy said.
“It looked hard to get the job done. And in the spring he was making it look easy.
And I just lean back on my experience in the NFL. You see that a lot with second-year players.
So those guys have made a jump.”
Harris gives Oklahoma another experienced body on the edge at right tackle. He has started at both guard and tackle in the SEC, and Nagy pointed to the 25 straight starts he brings into a demanding schedule.
“E’Marion Harris was a huge pickup for us,” Nagy said. “We got a guy that’s played in our league, 25-straight starts.
So adding a bunch of snaps to that group. So yeah, man, that group’s going to be - I think the fans will like what they see out of that group this year.”
In Other News...
Sooners Fans May Hate This New Look But OU Needs It
The sight of a corporate logo on a football jersey may not sit well with a lot of Oklahoma fans, but the market is moving fast enough that resistance may not matter much. Ohio State and Notre Dame have already struck major sponsorship deals that put company marks on their uniforms, and those agreements are expected to help their football programs most of all while also supporting the rest of the athletic department.
For the Sooners, the bigger issue is not aesthetics but keeping pace. A similar deal would give Oklahoma a new revenue stream that could help fund the roster-building arms race, and the numbers being discussed suggest the Sooners would not be entering the market just to participate. If OU is going to embrace the patch era, it will be because the financial upside is too significant to ignore, even if the look takes some getting used to. [Read more 🡒]
John Mateer Faces One Huge Test As Oklahoma Camp Opens
Fall camp is opening with a familiar face back at the center of Oklahomas offense, as John Mateer enters his second season as the Sooners starter under Brent Venables. After an uneven first year, Mateer now gets the chance to settle in with a full offseason and show the kind of consistency Oklahoma expected when he took over the job.
The quarterback room is not empty behind him, either. Whitt Newbauer and Jett Niu are back, and freshman Bowe Bentley arrives as another name to watch, which gives this camp a little more intrigue than a simple reset. For Mateer, the first big test is less about winning a job than proving he can hold onto it by taking the next step in a room where the Sooners have more options than they did a year ago. [Read more 🡒]
One Simple Fix Could Change Oklahoma's Entire Offensive Ceiling
Oklahoma heads toward the 2026 season with a defense that looks ready to carry its share of the load, but the offense still has a clear area to clean up if it wants to match that standard. The rushing game was a problem a year ago, and the Sooners have spent the offseason trying to give themselves more answers in the backfield with Tory Blaylock, John Mateer and Xavier Robinson back in the mix, along with new faces who could deepen the rotation.
Roman Harper floated a simple schematic fix that would fit the personnel and help the ground game function with more consistency. His idea centers on leaning more into pistol looks and wider-zone, downhill concepts, the kind of change that can make an offense harder to defend without requiring a total overhaul. For Oklahoma, the appeal is obvious: if the run game takes even a modest step forward, the entire ceiling of the offense starts to look different. [Read more 🡒]