NORMAN — All of the arrows were pointing up for R Mason Thomas heading into the 2023 season.

The Florida native appeared in 10 games for the Sooners as a true freshman last season, finishing with seven tackles, a tackle for loss and 0.5 sacks. The team's excitement for Thomas continued to grow in the spring, when he emerged as a real weapon for the Sooners’ defense. In fact, Thomas had separated himself during fall camp as the best defensive end on the team.

But unfortunately for Thomas, he suffered a high-ankle sprain before the season opener, an injury that kept him out for three of the first four games. Meanwhile, other defensive ends like Rondell Bothroyd, Ethan Downs, Trace Ford and Adepoju Adebowore were earning significant playing time.

Thomas was happy for his teammates, but it was a difficult time individually.

“I had to take a step back and look at what I've been doing, anything that was negative or what I was doing wrong,” Thomas said during his media availability on Monday. “I asked a question a lot of times when I got that setback: Why? But I just had to stop saying why and follow the plan that God has.”

However, Thomas has been slowly working his way on the field since that injury, and the Sooners are seeing the results.

Thomas played 11 snaps against Iowa State in Week 5 before logging another 10 the following week against Texas, per Pro Football Focus. In last week’s win over UCF, Thomas played 19 snaps and played a huge role in pressuring quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. He finished tied for the team lead in quarterback hurries with three, and his PFF pass rush grade of 69.7 was the fourth highest on the team.

Seeing Thomas make an impact in consecutive weeks has been an encouraging sign, and his teammates have certainly been happy about Thomas’ return to the field.

“R Mason's a dude,” Downs said during Tuesday’s availability. “He's fast. He's athletic. He's smart. And during fall camp he beat everybody out on the d-end position… He's wired the right way. He's always in tune. He's always focused. When it's time to ball he's there. His eyes are always right. And for being a young guy, I've been so impressed by him and trying to mimic a lot of his qualities with his discipline and his footwork and things like that, his flexibility. And it's made me a better player. (OU defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis) been great bringing in more competition with the transfers and the young guys and it's made all of us better across the room.”

Now, the goal is to continue increasing Thomas’ playing time without pushing it too much. He’s still not fully healthy, and he’s actually been dealing with injuries in both ankles. But OU coach Brent Venables knows Thomas has the potential to be a significantly impactful player.

“He was our best in fall camp until he got banged up with the high sprain,” Venables said when asked by OUInsider on Tuesday. “He was given the green light after several weeks… High sprains are kind of funky. Sometimes you’d rather break it. There’s a better healing process, more concrete healing process, if you will.

“ He’s starting to feel good, (confidence-wise). He’s actually banged up both ankles, so it’s been frustrating for him. He’s long, he’s got incredible speed, his explosiveness, he’s super twitchy, plays with great power naturally. He’s really coming into his own. So hopefully we can get him back on track. It was good to see him have a little success last week. My expectation is to see that develop in a positive direction as we move forward.”

Thomas acknowledges that there was some frustration with his initial setback. But now there’s some positives that he can build on.

"It's not frustrating at all anymore," Thomas said. "The first two days, it was a little frustrating and a little doubtful. But cheering my teammates on was probably the best thing I could do on the sideline for those games. Now I'm actually cheering my teammates on and playing. It's even better."