NORMAN — Troy Everett knows how much the offensive line struggled last season. There's no way to sugar coat it.

As the offense deteriorated last year, the offensive line was at the center of the issues. The Sooners ranked dead last nationally in sacks allowed (50) and 129th in tackles for loss allowed (100). Part of that was injuries; 11 different offensive line started at least one game, and Febechi Nwaiwu was the only player to start every game as the Sooners marched out a ton of different lineup combinations.

Whether it was a lack of chemistry or continuity, systemic offensive issues or just bad injury luck, the offensive line just never looked comfortable. This spring was about trying to take a step forward.

"Everyone knows last year wasn't good," OU center Troy Everett said Saturday. "But I think this year having a solid group we're not going to have six, seven different lineups every week hopefully. Stuff happens but I like where we're at right know. I like where everybody, where their motivation is.

"I like how everybody wants to get better and I think it's going to be a fun year."

There's a couple of things the Sooners can point to for optimism.

For one, the offensive line stayed relatively healthy. Outside of Heath Ozaeta and Logan Howland, who are recovering from offseason procedures, the Sooners had their whole group in tact. Compare that to last spring, when Everett suffered a significant knee injury that kept him out through the first few games in the fall.

Ozaeta and Howland's absences also gave bigger opportunities for some of the younger players. Eddy Pierre-Louis saw a ton of first team-reps, including at the Crimson Combine. True freshmen Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fodje also saw significant reps.

With Fasusi, in particular, there's hope that he offers a higher ceiling than the Sooners had last season.

"Mike is an unreal talent, and he's a great kid," OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. "He's a highly intelligent kid. And the best asset that he has is that he's diligent. He's diligent in his study, in his work. And where he was at practice one to where he is now, as far as seeing fronts, making calls, communicating with everyone, I mean, he's a million miles from where he was in practice one.

"Big Mike, he's got an unbelievable future."

Another important X-factor is the presence of Kevin Wilson. The former OU offensive coordinator and Tulsa head coach was hired as an analyst during the winter, and he was very hands-on with the offensive line during the spring.

"Kevin’s a guy that has tremendous experience, certainly here at Oklahoma," Venables told OUInsider. "He’s a really good football coach, knows the game. He’s a good relationships guy. Great staff teammate. The coaches on the staff, certainly, some of them already knew him so I think transitioning was pretty simple.

"Kevin’s just here to support those guys. Jumped right in, I think Bill (Bedenbaugh) put him to work and just be another set of eyes and ears, another voice for what (he) wants done. For me, he’s another set of eyes just holistically looking at everything. He knows what winning and success looks like, so he’s a really honest guy, and he’s a tough guy. And so, he’ll be a good resource for us moving forward.”

There's also optimism that the new offense could simply help things be more cohesive. In addition to new schemes and personnel, new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer have made it a priority to inject energy back into the offense, something that was lacking last season.

"We had those four practices before spring break," Everett said. "I remember for spring break, I went back home, and I was just kind of sitting there watching film, and I was talking to my parents, and I was like, ‘This is definitely a different vibe than we had last year. Everybody’s flying around. It’s explosive. Coaches are having fun. Players are having fun. Just a different energy.’

"That’s kind of when for me it was like, ‘Hey, we’ll see what happens.’

There's hope that some continuity from last season and a new feel offensively could naturally mend some of the shortcomings from last season, but those things only go so far. The Sooners know there's a long way to go in bouncing back from last year's disappointing 6-7 season, and a lot of that recovery has to start on the offensive line.

"I think this will be the best offensive line group as a whole," Venables said. "They may not have the depth of experience necessarily. I don’t know what that looks like compared to what our first three years looked like, but the depth in the offensive line, their bodies, the ability of the group is the best that we’ve had.

"I really like the direction that group is heading in.”

With the spring over, a pivotal offseason awaits that group.

"Obviously you've got to learn from your mistakes, but you can’t just live off of that all the time," Everett said. "You got to learn from it, move on, swallow it and move on. That’s in the past. We all know what happened and know it was not even close to where we need to be, but now we’re going to a place where, OK, use that for what we did last year, and drive it as motivation to make sure it never happens again."

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