The Oklahoma Sooners’ injury situation heading into the 2026 college football season certainly hasn’t been ideal, but it seems it still could have been a lot worse.
After a whirlwind of injury updates on Tuesday that included replacement starting center Ryan Fodje going to miss Friday night’s opener against UTEP because of a knee injury suffered during practice, Sooners On SI provided a double dose of good news on Wednesday, with not only Fodje getting good results, but starting center Jake Maikkula also being ahead of schedule for his eventual return.
Ryan Fodje and Jake Maikkula returning at perfect time for OU
The Sooners will still be down a few players against UTEP, but, quite frankly, they don’t need to be at full-strength to dominate the Miners. What’s most important is that OU is as close to 100% as possible for its Week 2 trip to Ann Arbor to play No. 16 Michigan. It’s looking like the Sooners will be a lot healthier than expected for that top-20 matchup, at least compared to 24 hours ago.
According to Sooners On SI, Fodje returned to practice on Tuesday after his MRI came back negative. He was held out of full-contact drills and will still miss Friday’s game, but it’s still best-case for the situation, with the injury obviously not being serious, and he’s expected to return Week 2 to play Michigan.
Even better, Maikkula also returned to practice on Tuesday and was a “full go,” per Sooners On SI. He sprained his MCL in his knee in a scrimmage during fall camp and had an initial time frame of 4-6 weeks. OU’s matchup with the Wolverines would be exactly four weeks since the injury. If he’s back by then, it would correlate with the update head coach Brent Venables gave last week, when he said he expected Maikkula “to be back sooner than later.”
Once Maikkula was sidelined, Fodje ultimately beat out Western Kentucky transfer Caleb Nitta and freshman Noah Best to slide over from right guard to fill in at center. That left either Best or Heath Ozaeta starting at right guard Week 1. Then, the Sooners abruptly lost their Plan B at center with Tuesday's news.
The main worry about Fodje missing the season opener wasn't really about beating UTEP, but more about him getting game experience at a new position before having to go up against much stiffer competition in Michigan. But if Maikkula is back for Week 2, which still feels like a big if, then Fodje could go back to his usual spot at right guard, and the Sooners would have the entire offensive line ready to go for Michigan.
If fully healthy, Maikkula would be at center after starting 10 games there last season. The Sooners would also have returning starters in Michael Fasusi (LT), Eddy Pierre-Louis (LG) and Fodje (RG). At right tackle will likely be E’Marion Harris, who just transferred from Arkansas and started 24 games the past two seasons for the Razorbacks.
In a way, holding players out Week 1 could actually end up being a blessing in disguise for the Sooners to assure they're fully healthy for Michigan. It also opens up more opportunity for a young player like Best and for Nitta, who is making the jump back to the Power 4, to improve Oklahoma's depth even more.
Suddenly, things aren't so bad, after all, for the Sooners.
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