NORMAN — Among the many issues facing Oklahoma's offense, Brent Venables has repeatedly mentioned the struggles on the offensive line.

The Sooners are surrendering 4.1 sacks per game and eight tackles for loss per game, both marks ranking 128th or worse nationally. The offensive line is coming off the worst performance of the season by far, when they allowed nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss against South Carolina. The nine sacks is the most OU has ever surrendered in a single game in program history.

So with those issues, could the Sooners start looking at a true freshman like guard Eddy Pierre-Louis?

"Eddy has done a lot of great things," Venables said when asked by OUInsider on the SEC teleconference Wednesday. "Unfortunately for Eddy, he didn’t get here until the summer. There’s just so much to learn. It’s one of the positions on any football team to transition straight out of high school, it takes a special guy. It put him behind the eight-ball, if you will, from a mental standpoint. The fundamentals, everything happens so fast out there. Eddy has gotten better as the season has gone on."

It could be an option the Sooners have to examine.

The left guard spot has been a seesaw for the Sooners all season. Jacob Sexton has played the most snaps there with 281, per Pro Football Focus, but he has split time between left guard and left tackle all season as the offensive line has dealt with injuries and, frankly, a lack of production. Heath Ozaeta has also seen some time at left guard with 200 snaps played.

At right guard, Febechi Nwaiwu has taken 482 of 491 possible snaps this season. Louis is the only other player to log snaps at right guard, and all nine snaps came in the season opener against Temple.

But Bill Bedenbaugh has used a ton of different lineups this season, particularly in Saturday's 35-9 loss to South Carolina. Eight different offensive lineman played against the Gamecocks, as Bedenbaugh continued to move guys around. However, none of those lineups included any of the true freshman, including Louis, Eugene Brooks or Isaiah Autry-Dent, who are all listed on the depth chart.

Louis is listed at both left and right guard on the depth chart, but has played in only one game this season. With five games left on the schedule, Louis could appear in three of them and still utilize a potential redshirt. The Sooners are having to balance how to approach Louis' redshirt while also deal with the struggles on the offensive line.

"We’ve gone back and forth about using that redshirt," Venables said. "There will be real issues you’ll have to be prepared to accept when you put a young guy in there. We’re really excited. He’s been running with the 2s, gotten a ton of valuable reps in practice. Expeditiously, you see him getting better as the season has gone on. More confident, more aggressive, physical.

"It’s been noticeable for coaches on both sides of the ball in the last two weeks where you’ve seen the light has really go off for him. (You) see his aggressiveness and physicality really start to show up in all of our good on good stuff."

Venables stopped short of indicating whether the Sooners will give Louis some playing time moving forward, or whether they'll utilize his redshirt. The remaining schedule is daunting for the Sooners, and that includes this weekend's road trip to No. 18 Ole Miss (11 a.m. Saturday, ESPN). But with the Sooners' struggles on the offensive line, and the decision to dismiss offensive coordinator Seth Littrell on Sunday, the coaching staff could look at shaking things up.

Venables indicated the growth of the freshmen on the offensive line has been encouraging this season.

"We’re all really excited about guys like Heath Ozaeta, Isaiah Autry, Logan Howland, Eddy Pierre-Louis, BJ Brooks, Daniel (Akinkunmi) as well. It’s a really talented group of guys that all their best football is still out in front of them."

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