Oklahoma’s offensive line depth is about to be tested again, and the Sooners may be better prepared for it than they’ve been in recent seasons.
Jake Maikkula’s injury has pushed the program’s long-running push for versatility into the spotlight, just as the 10th-ranked Sooners head into a schedule that includes road trips to No. 16 Michigan and No.
3 Georgia in September. It’s the kind of early stretch that can expose a line in a hurry, and Oklahoma has lived through enough injury issues up front to know how quickly things can unravel.
General manager Jim Nagy has been blunt about what he wants from the roster since arriving in February 2025. He made that clear again in December when discussing the additions of Noah Best and Deacon Schmitt.
“Position versatility is key,” Nagy said in December when talking about the signings of Noah Best and Deacon Schmitt. “... We can’t have any one-position players moving forward, that gets you in a lot of trouble with your roster.”
That philosophy suddenly matters even more with Maikkula sidelined. Oklahoma has been forced to shuffle its offensive line repeatedly over the last three seasons, starting 20 different combinations in that span. The last time the Sooners went through a season with fewer than six combinations up front was 2021, Lincoln Riley’s final year.
Center has been especially unstable. Oklahoma has started three different players there in each of the last two seasons.
Troy Everett opened last year before an injury ended his season, which created a path for Maikkula to step in. When Maikkula went down late in the year, Febechi Nwaiwu slid from guard to center and handled the role for the first time since high school over the final two games.
Bill Bedenbaugh has made it clear that center is a demanding job in his system.
“Tackles have probably the toughest job being out there on an island, on an edge, but you know the most important one, I think, is center, besides the quarterback on the whole offense because he gets guys getting going on in the right direction and if he misses calls, obviously there’s an issue. … That position is critical to our success.”
Maikkula arrived with some background at the position, even if he was mostly a guard at Stanford before taking over full time with the Sooners. Oklahoma also added Caleb Nitta in the offseason, bringing in a player who started nine games at center last season at Western Kentucky to bolster the middle of the line.
“What he’s done this summer, I’ve been really impressed with,” Bedenbaugh said of Nitta before preseason camp began.
Best has also stood out as a freshman and could work his way into the mix at center. Ryan Fodje is another option, having started at both tackle and guard last season and taken center reps late in the year so he’d be ready if needed. Before Maikkula’s injury, Fodje was already embracing that kind of flexibility.
“I just feel like whatever I’ve got to do, I’ve got to do it,” Fodje said before Maikkula’s injury. “I know it’s hard.
I know football’s hard. Life is hard.
Everything is hard in life. But I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do to make the team successful.
That’s all I’ve got to do. If they need me at center, I’ll go right now and start snapping the ball.
… I know how to make the calls. I can do what they need me to do.”
Brent Venables has been on the same page, stressing the value of linemen who can move around when needed.
“Really important for us to be efficient from a roster standpoint,” Venables said.
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Sooners Just Got A Major SEC Respect Boost Across The Roster
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The full list of selections also underscores how widely Oklahoma is being viewed inside the league, since the voting came from SEC head coaches who could not cast ballots for their own players. Sandell and Anderson were the only Sooners on the first team, while the rest of the group filled out second-team spots, a breadth of respect that should only add to the intrigue around how Oklahoma stacks up once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]