Last summer, Oklahoma fans had little sense of what the offensive line would look like. Heading into this fall, the picture is much clearer - and a lot more encouraging.
The Sooners leaned on a six-man rotation late in the 2025 season, with offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh mixing in Febechi Nwaiwu, Derek Simmons, Ryan Fodje, Michael Fasusi, Eddy Pierre-Louis and Jake Maikkula. Nwaiwu was the lone veteran in that group, while Simmons and Maikkula arrived via transfer and Fodje, Fasusi and Pierre-Louis were freshmen. Pierre-Louis was a redshirt freshman.
The results weren’t perfect, but they were a real step forward. Oklahoma gave up 29 sacks, a number that ranked 93rd out of 134 FBS teams.
Still, Pro Football Focus credited quarterback John Mateer with being pressured 26 times, which ranked 26th among signal callers at the Power Four level. That’s a far cry from 2024, when OU allowed 50 sacks and tied for last in the country.
The improvement showed up more clearly in pass protection than in the run game. The Sooners still had trouble creating lanes, finishing 13th in the SEC and 112th nationally in rushing at 118.5 yards per game. Bedenbaugh’s unit didn’t suddenly turn into the SEC’s best offensive line, but it did show it was moving in the right direction.
That matters now, because the group is changing again. Fodje, Fasusi and Pierre-Louis will all be sophomores in 2026.
Maikkula and Arkansas transfer E’Marion Harris are set to enter their senior seasons. Those five are the most likely Week 1 starters, giving Oklahoma a blend of youth and experience that should provide a solid base.
What the Sooners won’t have is Nwaiwu, the line’s “glue guy.”
Over two seasons at Oklahoma, Nwaiwu started 26 games. He earned Second Team All-SEC honors in 2025 and was a finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy, which goes annually to college football’s most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on. Before arriving in Norman, he started at North Texas and appeared in 26 games for the Mean Green.
His value went beyond the box score. Nwaiwu finished 2025 with a 91.6 PFF grade as a pass blocker, the best mark on the OU line. Teammates and coaches repeatedly pointed to his leadership as a major reason the unit improved.
The Houston Texans took Nwaiwu in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, leaving Oklahoma with a leadership void to fill. Maikkula and Harris bring the most experience, with Maikkula coming over after three seasons at Stanford and Harris logging 1,694 offensive snaps across four years at Arkansas. But the younger trio has been in Norman just as long - or longer - than either transfer.
Brent Venables believes that will matter. After OU’s spring game on April 18, he said, "Lots of different personalities, same mentality,” Venables said after OU’s spring game on April 18.
“It might be the best that we’ve had since we’ve been here when it comes to that - the continuity, the chemistry, the togetherness. It’s a very real thing.
It jumps out at you.”
Oklahoma has the pieces to keep building up front. The question now is whether one player - or several - can pick up the leadership slack and keep the line from sliding backward in 2026.
In Other News...
Sooners Fans Still Can't Agree On These Costly Portal Misses
A recent look back at Oklahomas transfer-portal haul is a reminder that not every splashy addition turns into a difference-maker. John Mateer at least still has time to shape the verdict, but the broader review of the Sooners incoming crop has already become a mixed bag, with some arrivals giving the program real production and others leaving fans wondering what exactly was gained.
Dasan McCullough and Jaydn Ott are the names that keep coming up in that conversation, and Austin Stogners return only adds another layer to it. McCullough never quite matched the expectations attached to him, Ott fell far short of what Oklahoma needed, and Stogner came back to Norman hoping to recapture his earlier form but did not get back to that level, leaving the Sooners with a portal ledger that still feels unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Fans Still Hate How These Portal Losses Aged
Oklahomas recent portal history has a way of looking worse with every passing season, and the latest reminder comes from a group of departures that have all found clearer roles elsewhere. Dillon Gabriel settled in at Oregon, Cayden Green carved out a major spot at Missouri, Hollywood Smothers has grown into a featured back at NC State, and Brenen Thompson has turned into a big-play threat at Mississippi State. For Sooners fans, it is less about any one exit than the cumulative effect, because each move chipped away at depth and left Oklahoma trying to replace talent it had already developed.
Theo Wease Jr. is part of the same conversation, too, even if his Oklahoma run never fully matched the promise that came with his recruiting profile. The point of revisiting these names is not just nostalgia or second-guessing, but the way they underline how quickly roster construction can swing in the transfer era. Some players simply needed a fresh start, while Oklahoma was left sorting through the fallout and wondering how different the offense might have looked if even a couple of those pieces had stayed put. [Read more 🡒]