Oklahoma football: Former recruiting director for Rivals likes the OU offensive line

Oklahoma football has quite high expectations on their offensive line this year, after a somewhat disappointing year upfront in 2021.

The Sooners return three starters and are expected to start two transfers who have started several games elsewhere. McKade Mettauer is expected to win the job as a starter at guard after transferring in from Cal. Wanya Morris who came to Tennessee last off-season did not have the immediate impact the experts expected but is still extremely talented and expected to take a leap this season.

Former National Recruiting Director for Rivals Mike Farrell took notice of the collection of talent Oklahoma had on the offensive line with his most recent Farrell 50, this time for the offensive line. The Sooners had three selections in his top 50, the most of any school.

Anton Harrison came in at number 16 for Farrell. Harrison has been slated by some services to be a first-round draft pick in the 2023 NFL draft. The Oklahoma LT is highly thought of around the country and Farrell filled us in,

"“Anton Harrison is one of the most gifted left tackles in college football right now. He is especially great at getting to the second level.”"

Worth noting, Farrell was all over Anton Harrison coming out of high school and scouted him multiple times in person.

Andrew Raym checked in at No. 24 and was the Oklahoma football starting center for much of the 2021 season and had some great moments despite being overwhelmed at times having to process all the calls at the line of scrimmage.

Farrell believes Raym is falling right in line with the recent surge in center talent Oklahoma has enjoyed. Just ahead of Raym at No. 23 was Chris Murray. Murray has been at Oklahoma for a couple of years after transferring from UCLA and had some great moments and troubling ones a season ago, but flashes NFL potential, Farrell likes Murray

"“Murray has a lower ceiling than Raym, but he brings a lot of smarts, and understands football scheme.”"

Farrell did not list McKade Mettauer or Wayna Morris on his top 50 list. Though he does think both have tremendous potential as well.

"“Mettauer has a chance to be really good but will have to adjust to a different conference and a new scheme. Wanya on the other hand needs to bounce back. He showed a lot of promise at Tennessee but fell off a bit last year.”"

Oklahoma football is known for its physical line play and running the football. Whether it was Billy Sims and the Wishbone, or Quinten Griffin scoring the only touchdown in the national title game in 2001, or recent greats like Adrian Peterson or DeMarco Murray one thing was constant. The Sooners cleared massive lanes for these guys to run through.

Having Bill Bedenbaugh as your offensive line coach never hurts. Mike Farrell sees a lot of potential for the Oklahoma line of scrimmage in 2022, and with the physical interior run game of the veer-and- shoot offense it could be a match made in heaven between scheme and personnel.