Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Offensive line an underrated asset in 2023

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Andrew Raym (73) hikes the ball to Spencer Rattler (7) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx10693
Oklahoma's Andrew Raym (73) hikes the ball to Spencer Rattler (7) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx10693 /
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The offensive line has been the unsung hero behind — actually, in front of — the outstanding offensive production of the Oklahoma football program for the better part of the past decade.

That’s because OU offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh is one of the best in the business when it comes to recruiting and developing O-line talent. During his time at Oklahoma, nine Sooner offensive linemen have been selected in the NFL Draft, and in 2018 Oklahoma won the Joe Moore Award as the most outstanding offensive line in college football.

The Sooners lost both of their starting offensive tackles from a year ago, some college football experts have cited the O-line as a potential problem area for Oklahoma in 2023.

Jim Nagy, director of the Senior Bowl, one of the NFL’s premier scouting events for the evaluation of college seniors who are pursuing careers at the next level, has a countering view of what to expect from OU offensive line in the coming season. Nagy views Bedenbaugh’s position group as more along the lines of a reload as compared to a rebuild, despite the fact that the Sooners are losing three starters from the 2022 group.

Center Andrew Raym and left guard McKade Mettauer are the two offensive line holdovers from last season, although Mettauer is going to get a stiff challenge from Savion Byrd. Tyler Guyton, who transferred to Oklahoma from TCU ahead of last season and played a very strong game in OU’s Cheez-It Bowl game with Florida State, is expected to be a replacement at one of the tackle spots. His tackle linemate on the opposite side is expected to be Stanford transfer Walter Rouse.

Rouse had a subpar season in 2022, largely due to health and injury issues, but in his freshman and sophomore seasons, he graded out overall as a strong left tackle while at Stanford. He missed out on OU spring practice this year with a torn labrum but is reported to be healthy now and on track to start the season.

Junior Caleb Shaffer and sophomore Jake Taylor are likely to battle it out for the other starting guard spot. The good news with the offensive line group for 2023 is that the Sooners have more depth there than they’ve been blessed with the past couple of seasons.

Tackle Jacob Sexton has a lot of potential star quality, the Sooner coaches believe, and he is someone to keep an eye on as he is just a sophomore. Junior Aaryn Parks is another backup who is likely to see quite a bit of action, likely standing in and providing a breather for Guyton.

The bottom line is that the Senior Bowl’s Nagy is a top evaluator of NFL Draft prospects and he believes that Raym, Guyton and Rouse all possess draftable grades for the NFL, which makes the 2023 season very important and added incentive for those three, not to mention how stepping up their games will benefit the OU offensive line as well as the Sooners offensive efficiency and effectiveness.

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