One Big Thing: The One Area Oklahoma Must Be Way Better in 2025

Howland was among a handful of players who were ready when his name was called last year. A redshirt freshman, injuries forced him onto the field in 2024, and as he and guard Heath Ozaeta settled in, the line play improved.

Now, despite missing spring practice to clean up shoulder injuries, Howland and Ozaeta have emerged as leaders among the group and both had a strong preseason camp.

“We were just keeping each other accountable,” Howland said. “A new offensive coordinator, a new playbook. Just holding each other accountable, learning the plays and getting right to it when we got back.”

That six-week acclimation period in the regular season can’t happen this year. Barring the disastrous run of injuries last year’s front five endured, the starters and top backups need to be identified early so Mateer and new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle can take the training wheels off in Saturday’s season-opener against Illinois State (No. 18-ranked OU is a 35 1/2-point favorite, per FanDuel Sportsbook).

Choices Abound

Of course, this week’s depth chart is littered with “OR” across four of the five positions. Three players are listed as potential starter at left tackle, three more appear at right tackle, and, if the coaching staff is to be believed, two are vying to start at both left guard and center (no matter how unlikely it seems that center Troy Everett is an accomplished returning starter, a team leader and was even voted captain last week).

Is that good or bad, that Bedenbaugh doesn’t have a starting five yet?

“Lot of great competition in fall camp,” Arbuckle said. “And going through, we just felt like there were still kind of a few ors in there, so I’m excited to watch these guys play, watch them compete and go out there and watch them play. They are going to rotate a little bit, just getting guys in different moments, different situations, because ultimately we have to get to a point where we’re like, ‘This is the guy.’ 

“All those guys have done an incredible job, coming along really nicely, but we just want to see a little bit more.”

Arbuckle said Bedenbaugh was “mixing and matching” in preseason camp to see who could play where, “ultimately pushing toward where we think the best chemistry is.” 

Unfortunately, preseason injuries have forced Bedenbaugh’s handle in the shuffling process. It’s not been anywhere near to the level of last year, but some guys being forced from the lineup has necessitated a good amount of the indecision.

“I think you learned from last year, it’s next man up,” Everett said. “That's how it's got to be. So it's like everyone knows that, OK, if something happens to someone, the next guy comes in, you gotta trust.”

Shall a Child Lead Them?

Sometimes, that next man — or even the first man — might be a true freshman. That’s why 5-star tackle Michael Fasusi was at the top of what’s expected to be an ongoing three-man competition to start at left tackle. Fasusi turns 19 in October.

Fasusi may be young but has been impressive beyond just his obvious natural gifts. He seems to be mentally progressing to where he needs to be to start in the SEC — starting with his willingness to accept hard coaching from Bedenbaugh.

“He wants us to be more critical about ourselves,” Fasusi said. “It can’t just be him saying the same thing over and over again. It’s us just wanting to get better by ourselves. Each of us gotta do what he coaches us and go back home and put that in our head and study. It’s all about getting better on your own, too.”

Hard times makes for hard people. That’s what Bedenbaugh and the rest of the OU offense hopes came out of a miserable 2024.

“From what I’ve seen, the progress and the getting better with all the things we want to get better at, I’ve seen it,” Bedenbaugh said. “Again, we’ve got to keep going. You can’t ever relax.” 

“We got depth everywhere,” Everett said. “So it's just a very fun group.”