Evaluating Oklahoma's rebuilt offensive line, what questions still remain entering 2024 season

It’s April, which means Oklahoma football fans are knee-deep in spring practice coverage, and really wondering: what is going on with the new-look offensive line?

Reports out of Norman are that the Sooner front line is struggling to figure out where to put bodies. According to SoonerScoop’s Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia III, one major injury has thrown a wrench into the operation while OU is struggling to find a cohesive unit to put on the field for the offense.

The two Oklahoma experts joined Andy Staples on the On3 YouTube Monday morning, and his first question to them was about that O-line.

“It’s not been good,” Radosevich answered to start. “You look at an offensive line that had to shuffle quite a few positions, guys that are coming in as mid-year transfers. It’s gone probably good but I wouldn’t characterize it as a bunch of guys who have really stepped in and certainly wowed a lot of people.”

There is one bright spot out of the portal, but otherwise, Radosevich isn’t terribly optimistic about the group coming out of the spring.

“I think Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas has locked down one of the guard positions, but the overall picture of the Oklahoma offensive line coming out of spring is probably not something that would bring a lot of praise from the Oklahoma fanbase, and that’s where you get to questions like… has Jackson Arnold been able to develop because the offensive line has been so bad throughout the spring? It’s been a big question mark.”

George Stoia III then chimed in to explain how the Sooners got to this point of having so few sure things up front.

“I think the biggest thing is… having to replace five guys is difficult. I think they like some of the pieces they have, but all of the sudden, you lose the guy you were expecting to start at center in Troy Everett to a knee injury. They hope to have him back by the start of the season, we’ll see.”

Losing starters is never easy, and that problem only grew when OU lost Everett, one of the few dependable O-linemen the Sooners got back. Now, per Stoia, they’re just trying to see what sticks at each spot.

“You look at the guard spots, you’ve had some nice play from Febechi Nwaiwu, Heath Ozaeta is a second-year guy, Jacob Sexton, sounds like they’ve moved him to guard maybe. Michael Tarquin, the transfer from USC, he’s been playing some left tackle. That right tackle spot, they thought Spencer Brown from Michigan State was going to be a plug-and-play type guy. That hasn’t been the case. Every position feels up for grabs.

“You were hoping that maybe after spring some of these guys would lock down spots, and it sounds like other than Nwaiwu, they haven’t had anybody who’s come in and said ‘this is going to be my starting spot.’ So I think they have a lot of question marks.”

Again, another not-so-positive review of the position group from a guy in the know down in Norman. However, there’s hope, as Stoia says Oklahoma certainly isn’t done adding on the OL and will chase more guys in the spring window, including one that already has a visit set up.

“We also expect them to go out in the portal here in the spring an add at least probably two guys. They’re bringing in Branson Hickman from SMU this weekend who’s very experienced at center. I assume they’ll take him if they can get him.”

That could be a sign that Everett’s recovery timeline is a little dicier than expected, since he’s long been seen as the starter there. But Hickman could just be another decent body to throw in the mix, since those are few and far between in the transfer portal, per Stoia.

“There hasn’t been a ton of guys in the portal on the offensive line especially that OU is particularly interested in right now, other than Branson Hickman at SMU, he started 33 games there at center. So I think they’re still waiting and seeing, maybe some guys will pop in the next couple weeks, you never know, but right now, it’s definitely a limited group.”

Andy Staples agreed that the pickings are slim for great offensive linemen and also pointed out that there are SEC rules that could prevent any players from other SEC teams hopping in the portal to play for another SEC team. He says there’s a rule against doing that, which only further hampers OU’s ability to go sign new guys.

There’s a lot more questions than answers for the Oklahoma OL as summer approaches and the new transfer window opens up.