NORMAN — Injury struggles and an off-the-rails season has forced the Sooners to evaluate their roster.
At the top of that evaluation this week is Isaiah Autry-Dent. The freshman offensive lineman has been elevated from the scout team and is expected to be listed on the two-deep depth chart for Saturday's game against Maine and potentially moving forward.
Normally, there'd be a concern in inserting a true freshman on the field this late in the season, particularly since Autry-Dent hasn't logged a snap. But with injuries piling up, the Sooners don't really have much of a choice.
Plus, there's been real development from Autry-Dent this fall.
"His physical development since he’s been here has been tremendous," Venables said. "He’s put on 40-plus pounds and the strength and conditioning that’s come with that, too. He’s had a great fall. He’s going against really great people and, again, what you see on game day shouldn’t overwhelm you. It’s not dramatically different. They’re going against an elite group of players on defense that know how to practice. They’re going to show up and they’re going to bloody your nose every day in practice if you’re not ready to fight back.
"So we’ve really developed a great environment for those young offensive linemen to train in every single day. And several times this year he’s been the scout offensive lineman of the week and last week he was, as well. He’s really improved. Is he game ready? We’re about to find out. Sometimes there’s an easy transition and other times it’s (like), alright, we’ve got to find out."
Elevating Autry-Dent gives the Sooners an opportunity to juggle two paths at once — developing young players as they prepare for next season, while also not sacrificing a chance at competing now.
The Sooners are 4-4 (1-4) on the season following last week's 26-14 loss to Ole Miss, marking their third straight double-digit defeat. As the season has spiraled, the offensive line has been front and center. Oklahoma has given up 39 sacks this season and 4.88 per game, with both marks ranking dead last in the FBS. The last three weeks have been particularly dreadful — the Sooners have surrendered 25 sacks during that stretch, which included a program-worst 10 sacks allowed against Ole Miss. For comparison, the Sooners surrendered 20 sacks all of last season.
The unit took a hit over the weekend, as Jacob Sexton was knocked out of the game with a knee injury. Jake Taylor was a late scratch and didn't travel with the team. Without them, the Sooners leaned heavily on a pair of redshirt freshmen in Heath Ozaeta and Logan Howland, who combined to allow four sacks.
It's unlikely that either Sexton or Taylor will play this weekend, and Sexton's injury could keep him out even longer. Sexton's injury is particularly impactful considering he's played 510 snaps this season, per PFF, which ranks second most on the offense.
"Nobody wants to hear it but I'm gonna say it anyways because that's what the facts are, but when you're playing freshmen, freshmen play like freshmen sometimes," Venables said. "They don't have experience and wisdom they can lean on. So that happened a few times. But at the end of the day, I really felt like — and this is while Jacob was healthy and whatnot — three quarters (against Ole Miss) we gave ourselves a chance on the offensive line. We played a winning performance and had three sacks prior to the last 6-7 minutes of the game.
"(OU offensive line coach) Bill Bedenbaugh's one of the best in the business. He's done a great job. He has a career of doing more with less in developing guys, taking undervalued guys and getting them in a position to play well. That being said, if you look at a stat sheet right now, we're really bad when it comes to lots of spaces, and sacks is one of them. Gotta have perspective on all of it. None of it's any good, and we'll work relentlessly to improve and get better in all the ways that you can in the course of a week."
That brings everything back to Autry-Dent. The Sooners don't have a ton of other options without Sexton and Taylor, but there's been a ton of optimism about Autry-Dent's progress. He even traveled with the team to Ole Miss after a great week of practice.
And the Maine game gives him an opportunity — as well a few other true freshmen offensive lineman like Eddy Pierre-Louis — to see some valuable snaps on the field and show the coaching staff where he needs to grow.
With as poorly as the offense has played, and how injured the offensive line is, Venables knows the Sooners simply have to find out what they have in the young guys.
"He’s really matured mentally, learned how to be a great practice player, how to strain and fight, be physical, getting confidence through going against good people every single day to where we’ve recognized the performance," Venables said. "I’m not going to throw out compliments to guys if it’s not warranted. I want it to be a big deal to our guys. He’s been a guy that I’ve been able to recognize his performance and his development among several young players over the course of the season. Man, they’re getting after it, they’re making improvement.
"They care and they’re trying to make us better every day. And in turn they get better as a by-product of that and he’s done that. Obviously losing Sexton and losing Jake Taylor has promoted his opportunity and where that all lands we’ll find out. My hope is that, hey man... let’s find out what he can do. All within the (reality) of trying to be in a good rhythm and trying to win first and foremost, whatever that looks like."
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