Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables Praises O-line’s Performance During Offseason

Continuity is something that Oklahoma’s offensive line didn’t see much of in 2025.

Knowing this, the unit worked tirelessly in the offseason to develop stronger chemistry.

Brent Venables, entering his fourth season as Oklahoma’s head coach, said the offensive line was arguably the hardest-working position group since the 2024 season ended.

“They wanted to get better,” Venables said at Thursday’s OU Football Coaches Luncheon. “I would challenge to say there's probably been no group that has consistently been in the building together more than the offensive line. That's what it takes, right? It takes those five guys on the field all being enmeshed, having great chemistry at the same time.”

A year ago, OU’s inconsistency on the offensive line played a major part in the Sooners’ collective offensive stagnance.

The Sooners played nine different starting combinations in their first nine games. OU saw numerous injuries, with Jacob Sexton, Jake Taylor, Geirean Hatchett, Josh Bates, Michael Tarquin, Spencer Brown and Troy Everett all missing multiple games with injuries.

For the final five games of the season, Oklahoma started a rotation of Brown, Everett, Howland, Febechi Nwaiwu and Heath Ozaeta. Brown is the only one of that group no longer with the program, as he graduated following the 2024 season.

It’s hard to say, though, whether or not those four returners who saw significant starting experience will get the same number of reps in 2025.

Oklahoma picked up linemen Derek Simmons (Western Carolina), Luke Baklenko (Stanford) and Jake Maikkula (Stanford) from the transfer portal. The Sooners also signed four linemen — Michael Fasusi, Ryan Fodje, Owen Hollenbeck and Sean Hutton — as part of their 2025 recruiting class.

Regardless of the combination that offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh decides to go with in Week 1, Venables feels confident that it will be a cohesive unit.

“There’s no position more important than the offensive line at that exact thing, fighting to get on the same page,” Venables said. “Everything from our older guys who have really been leading those meetings and taking the charge with it to our younger guys buying in and completely investing into what these older guys are trying to feed into them. I’ve been really, really proud of the work that they put in this summer.”

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In addition to training their bodies and further walking through OU’s offensive schemes, the Sooners’ offensive linemen have been busy studying.

Venables said the linemen have frequently been in OU’s facilities, watching film from their own games in 2024, as well as other college and NFL games.

The expected result of this? More pocket time for transfer quarterback John Mateer.

“They watch cutups together,” Venables said. “'Hey, we have this call on right here, how would we pick this up?’ And they're working through the communication of it.”

With seven players missing extended time in 2024, it would be hard for as many breaks to go against the Sooners’ line in 2025.

Between a now-healthy group and the diligent offseason, Venables expects the offensive line to break out.

“The cohesion that they're building, it’s been a lot of fun to actually watch, and I can’t wait to get out in fall camp and really watch the fruits of their labor and it going into fruition,” Venables said. “They’ve been great this summer, really excited about that group and ready to roll.”