Editor's note: With fall camp just a few weeks away, OUInsider will give an overview of each position group and where things stand. The sixth installment focuses on the offensive line.
Oklahoma's roster makeup from top-to-bottom is as talented as its been in two decades, but has one glaring question mark heading into fall camp: the offensive line.
The Sooners lost all five starters from the 2023 unit, with Walter Rouse and McKade Mettauer exhausting their eligibility, Tyler Guyton and Andrew Raym leaving early for the NFL, and Cayden Green finding a new home at Mizzou.
On top of that, players like Savion Byrd and Caleb Schaffer, who played sizable roles as reserve players, are also gone.
Add the injury to Troy Everett to the heap of missing pieces for the Sooners and there appears to be all kinds of reason for pessimism.
However, Bill Bedenbaugh is still in charge of the offensive line at Oklahoma, and with his track record, there's confidence that the big fellas up front are up to the challenge.
With fall camp beginning on Monday, here's an overview of the Sooners' offensive line and the biggest questions they're facing ahead of 2024:
ROSTER
PROJECTED DEPTH CHART
BIGGEST QUESTIONS
1. Who starts at left guard?
It feels like there's a clear frontrunner to win the starting job at four of the five spots on the Sooners' O-line heading into fall camp, but the one position that remains wide open is left guard.
A lack of available bodies in the spring forced Jacob Sexton to get some run at LG, but he'll assume the starting role at left tackle in Week 1. We saw Michael Tarquin play both guard and tackle this spring, but will he be able to hold off a healthy Geirean Hatchett to secure the starting spot? Perhaps, but there's also a chance that Tarquin serves in a "jack-of-all-trades" role and becomes a sixth man of sorts for the unit.
Bill Bedenbaugh really likes what Tarquin brings to the room, but I'm going to roll with Hatchett to secure a starting spot after a strong showing in fall camp.
Another name to watch in the battle is Heath Ozaeta, who many feel is going to play a major role for the Sooners up front in the future. He's still green behind the ears, but Ozaeta has the tools and mindset to be successful and has also added some good weight this offseason.
2. How long will it take for the unit to gel?
While Jacob Sexton enters fall camp as the only offensive lineman to have started a game for Bill Bedenbaugh (with Everett out with injury), there's an abundance of experience coming into the year with a transfer portal haul of five players who've started games at other Division I programs.
However, getting all of that experience to mesh and work as a cohesive unit can take time. Frankly, if an offensive line group hasn't spent a significant amount of time getting familiar with one another ahead of fall camp, they're already way behind. Luckily for this group this isn't the case, as our own Brandon Drumm noted that the group has been "the most consistent unit" throughout the summer and appears to be taking all of the negative noise around them personally.
Sure, that sounds good in theory, but how will they measure up on a 3rd-and-8 situation with the game on the line? A test against the Tennessee defensive line in Week 4 will be an early measuring stick for this unit, and if they don't have things ironed out by that point, it could be hard to keep Jackson Arnold clean against the Vols' front seven.
3. How much command does Branson Hickman have of the group?
The center is the quarterback of the offensive line, and when it comes to pre-snap responsibility, there's not a player on the team who is relied on more than the offensive center (other than QB, obviously).
SMU transfer Branson Hickman brings 30+ starts' worth of experience with him from Dallas, and his time under Sonny Dykes and Rhett Lashlee should provide him with valuable experience in a system that resembles what he'll see under Seth Littrell.
Alignment, assignment, and technique should come quickly for Hickman, as he's shown to be technically sound already during his time with the Mustangs. Getting verbiage and the ability to communicate that with the other guys in the room is going to be the key to his success.
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