Oklahoma’s offensive line looks a lot steadier at center now that Jake Maikkula is back, and the Sooners are also building real insurance behind him.
That matters because when Maikkula went down at the end of the 2025 season, the right side of OU’s line had to be rearranged on the fly. Febechi Nwaiwu moved into the middle from right guard, and Ryan Fodje shifted in from tackle to fill Nwaiwu’s old spot at guard.
This offseason, Bill Bedenbaugh has had two players competing to give Maikkula help at the position: senior Caleb Nitta, who arrived from Western Kentucky, and freshman Noah Best. Nitta missed some time during spring work, which gave Best a chance to take a bigger role.
“Noah Best has done a really good job as a young guy,” Bedenbaugh said last week.
Best, a 6-foot-4, 319-pound native of Midlothian, Texas, made the most of that opening. Maikkula came away impressed with what he saw from the freshman.
“He's incredible. He's going to be a really good player for OU in years to come,” Maikkula said.
Maikkula also pointed to the way Best handled the learning curve. He said Best wasn’t afraid to ask questions in offensive line meetings, and that approach has already put him in a strong spot before he’s played an official snap for Oklahoma.
“(He’s) just a guy that picked up the offense pretty well,” Maikkula said. “And then just in terms of his leadership playing the center position and just his development, some of the stuff he put on tape, I was really impressed by.
Just a great guy too. Really fun to hang out with.
Good kid."
Best signed with Oklahoma as a consensus 3-star recruit, and he and classmate Deacon Schmitt are competing for spots in the two-deep when the Sooners open Sept. 4.
Nitta, meanwhile, has given Oklahoma another experienced option once he got healthy. He played in 11 games last season for Western Kentucky, starting nine times at center, after beginning his college career at Virginia Tech, where he spent his first two years.
That background has made him a useful sounding board for Maikkula. The two have spent time watching film together and comparing notes on different looks.
“Really good dude. Really smart player, so brought a lot of that,” Maikkula said.
“We kind of pin things off of each other, you know, like certain questions we had about different looks. Or like, 'Hey, how would you treat this and how would I treat this?'
Just kind of comparing notes on certain things and kind of learning from each other's games. It was really helpful for both of us.”
For an offensive line that wants to be much better this fall, having that kind of depth and competition behind Maikkula is a big step in the right direction.
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