Outstanding offensive line play has been a staple of some of the best Oklahoma football teams historically. This includes when OU played in four BCS national championship games in the early 2000s, and even more recently when the Sooners appeared in four College Football Playoffs in five seasons (2015-19).
In 2018, Oklahoma won the coveted Joe Moore Award as the best offensive line in college football. That starting five of tackles Bobby Evans and Cody Ford, guards Ben Powers and Dru Sumia and center Creed Humphrey started all 13 games that season and anchored a front line of offense that led college football in scoring (49.5 points per game) yards per play (8.6) and total offense (577 yards per game), and five times rushed for more than 300 yards and had 300 passing yards in a single game.
All five went on to careers in the NFL -- among 13 former Sooner O-linemen under Bill Bedenbaugh's watch that have been NFL Draft picks -- and three are still playing in the league. This is why Bedenbaugh, who just finished his 11th season on the Oklahoma coaching staff, is considered one of the best in the college game at recruiting and developing offensive linemen for careers at the next level.
This is also why Bedenbaugh is going no place as new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle settles into his new post at Oklahoma and assesses what needs to be done to get the Sooners' offense back on track and performing at a consistently high level after a sputtering, mostly stagnant offensive performance this season.
The offensive line was a big part of the Sooners' offensive inconsistency, having to replace all five starters from a year ago. Oklahoma possessed some young O-line talent through high school recruiting, but the group was inexperienced, which is why the Sooners turned to the transfer portal to acquire more experience in the offensive line for the 2024 season. Five new transfer offensive linemen were brought in from of the portal.
Unfortunately, the experience infusion from the portal never really worked out as hoped as injuries and poor performance forced Bedenbaugh to go with eight different starting combinations in as many games to start the season. It wasn't until the final two or three games of the regular season that OU began to experience some stability on the offensive line.
Bedenbaugh is too good a coach and teacher for this to become a recurring problem while he is at Oklahoma. The past two recruiting cycles have produced several elite O-line prospects for Bedenbaugh.
OU's 2025 recruiting class includes five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi, one of the top two offensive tackles in the class nationally, and four-star tackle Ryan Fodje, himself a top-10 tackle prospect. Fasusi is definitely the headliner in the Sooners' 2025 class, which includes two other interior offensive linemen, but this group of O-line prospects may be the best in Bedenbaugh's time at OU, which certainly bodes well at the position for the future.
OU's 2024 recruiting class also included a couple of elite four-star offensive line prospects in Eddy Louis-Pierre and Eugene Brooks. Both saw limited time this season, but a year in Bedenbaugh's system should help elevate both in 2025, even with a new offensive coordinator.
Among the other offensive linemen on the roster are redshirt freshmen Joshua Bates, Logan Howland and Heath Ozaeta, all of whom got some valuable playing time down the stretch of the season and should come back with more experience next season.
Junior Jacob Sexton was injured and missed most of the second half of the season, but he should be back as well in 2025. Troy Everett is someone else who saw action on the O-line this season. He has played both the center and guard positions and has another year of eligibility.
You can expect the Sooners to utilize the transfer portal again this offseason, but also be more selective this time, especially as it applies to offensive linemen. The good news in this regard is Oklahoma won't have to do a deep dive and be as desperate to pluck off as many serviceable offensive linemen. Hopefully the 2024 issues with the offensive line will be a one-year anomaly.