Players who will define OU's season: Derek Simmons
Editor’s note: With Oklahoma’s 2025-26 season just a few weeks away, OUInsider will examine the players who will have the biggest impact on the outcome. This article centers around offensive tackle Derek Simmons, the sixth player to be featured in this series.
Oklahoma’s offensive line was a disaster last season, and the right tackle spot was perhaps the biggest culprit.
Three players logged at least 169 snaps there — Jake Taylor, Michael Tarquin and Spencer Brown. Taylor was never fully healthy and missed most of the year with injuries. Tarquin also missed significant time with injuries. Brown ended up playing out of necessity, and he was often the weakest link on the offensive line.
The Sooners added Derek Simmons during the offseason in hopes of bringing stability and, most importantly, production to that right tackle spot.
Simmons spent the last two seasons at Western Carolina, starting nine games (four at right tackle) while finishing with 612 snaps, per Pro Football Focus. His snap count would’ve ranked third most on the Sooners last season behind Febechi Nwaiwu and Heath Ozaeta. His PFF grades in pass blocking (81.2) and run blocking (74.5) last season are better than any offensive lineman that stepped on the field for OU last season.
This fall, the Sooners hope Simmons can be helpful in turning things around on the line of scrimmage. Here’s an overview of Simmons’ outlook this season:
CAREER STATS
Games started: 26
Total snaps: 1,579 (1,160 at right tackle)
Sacks allowed: 1
Pressures allowed: 21
2025 OUTLOOK
Before fall camp, the Sooners enter this season with three main options at right tackle — Simmons, Taylor and Luke Baklenko.
Taylor is an interesting player to monitor. He was the de facto starter last season when he was healthy, starting all four games that he was available. There is clearly talent there but he has struggled with injuries, and he faces competition this fall from two other players who have more proven production on the field, particularly at right tackle.
Baklenko spent the last two seasons at Stanford and racked up 1,016 snaps in 14 starts. There’s certainly an argument that he should factor into the rotation — or at least into the battle for snaps during fall camp — but it’s difficult to project where he fits into the mix with Taylor or Simmons.
But Simmons heads into fall camp with the slight edge for the starting nod. He got a ton of snaps during the spring and has assumed a leadership role on the offensive line. The only question is whether he can be productive in the SEC. But the advanced stats are very friendly to Simmons. He gave up zero sacks and two quarterback hits in 612 snaps last season, which should be a welcomed addition for an OU offensive line that ranked dead last nationally in sacks allowed last season.
If Simmons can stay healthy and maintain the consistency he showed at Western Carolina, the Sooners can feel pretty good about who is anchoring the right side of the offensive line. If he’s not the starter, that means Taylor or Baklenko really showed out in fall camp — which would also be a positive sign.
OU PLAYER SERIES
RB Jaydn Ott
LB Kip Lewis
WR Deion Burks
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