How big is Michael Fasusi's commitment? He's highest-rated OT recruit in OU program history

Bigger, stronger and better at the line of scrimmage. That is a difference maker and the formula for success in the ultra-competitive SEC. It's also the hallmark in Brent Venables' outstanding defenses that helped deliver two national championships at Clemson.

What makes the SEC better than every other conference in college football is that the best teams in the best conference in America replicate that same size and strength model on both sides at the point of attack.

Under the leadership and coaching of offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, Oklahoma has been a breeding ground for outstanding O-line development and performance. This season, however, the Sooners have had to turn to the transfer portal to replenish an offensive front that lost five starters from last season. The five players Oklahoma brought in via the portal started a combined 44 games at their respective schools (USC, Washington, Michigan State, SMU and North Texas) a year ago.

Having to replace that many starters on the offensive line is new ground for Bedenbaugh and Oklahoma, but if anybody can do it, he's the man, and head coach Brent Venables has full confidence that the Sooners will be A.O.K on the offensive front this season and beyond.

A prime reason for that belief came this past week with the commitment of five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi to OU's 2025 recruiting class. At. 6-foot, 5 inches and close to 300 pounds, Fasusi is rated as the No. 3 player at his position in the 2025 class and No. 12 overall nationally by the 247Sports Player Composite. Rivals actually does one better, having Fasusi as the No. 2 offensive tackle and No. 11 overall.

The elite, five-star recruit is not only the most prized offensive line commitment under Bedenbaugh at Oklahoma but also the the highest-rated O-line pledge in OU football history, and the Sooners certainly have had some great ones over the years.

Oklahoma wasn't the only major program in hot pursuit of Fasusi, but the Sooners were one of the first, and that first impression apparently was a lasting one. Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon and Missouri were his other four finalists.

Fasusi is from Lewisville, Texas, near the Dallas metro area, but he is originally from Nigeria. His family moved to America five years ago, and he says he really didn't know anything about American football before moving here.

"I really didn't know anything about American football when I came here," he told Collin Kennedy of 247Sports. "I went on Google and searched 'football game.' I said I'm down for that, that's what I want to play."

His junior year at Lewisville High School is when the college recruiting really picked up, Fasusi said. Bedenbaugh was among the first college coaches to really recognize Fasusi's talent and potential and the first to prioritize his recruitment.

"Our relationship is amazing," Fasusi said. "It's been tight since the beginning. It's never stopped. You want to talk about somebody you can rely on, as a coach, as a mentor, as a father figure. That's what I see Bedenbaugh as."

Fasusi said he knew after he took his official visits where he was going to play his college ball. "I took that OU OV," he said. "I knew I had to go to Texas, but OU surpassed everything I envisioned. I already had a great feeling about OU, but the visit really made a big statement for me and my family."

The latest addition to Oklahoma's 2025 class joins three other offensive line prospects in the class and four elite O-lineman who are in their freshman season this year. Fasusi is being counted on to be a foundational piece and key contributor as the Sooners and Bedenbaugh build strength and stability in the OU's offensive line for future seasons.

Bedenbaugh has sent 13 offensive linemen to the NFL through the draft in his 11 seasons at Oklahoma, and it should also be pointed out that in 2018, again under Bedenbaugh's watch, the Sooners won the coveted Joe Moore Award as the best offensive line in Division ! college football.

Fasusi may have found his next to the next level beyond his college days. That's what both he and Oklahoma are counting on.