Sooners on SI will spotlight ten players who need a big spring to solidify their place on the depth chart, improve and/or help Oklahoma build off its 2025 College Football Playoff momentum. Each day, we’ll break down one player’s background, progress, and what’s on the line as Brent Venables’ team takes shape during spring football.

Last season, Oklahoma was sort of forced into playing freshman tackle Michael Fasusi. His talent, coupled with the Sooners’ lack of established returning starters — who were healthy — allowed for the right situation for the young Fasusi to see the field as a starter.

Fasusi was later joined by fellow true freshman guard Ryan Fodje on the offensive line partially due to his budding talent but also injuries that forced Bill Bedenbaugh to shuffle guys around.

As the season wore on, Fasusi established himself as a solid starter while Fodje was inconsistent as he switched from guard to tackle and back to guard. Redshirt freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis came in during the second half of the season to establish a foundation for the future.

All to say, while OU feels significantly better about its offensive line situation heading into 2026, there’s still room for young players to establish themselves this spring — like incoming true freshman Deacon Schmitt.

The 6-5, 315-pound guard from Windsor, CO, has the physical tools you’d want in a player with a goal to see the field early. As an early enrollee, he will have the advantage of working under new strength and conditioning coach James Dobson to get physically ready to establish himself in the spring.

Schmitt was one of two offensive linemen (Noah Best being the other) to sign with the Sooners last December for the class of 2026. Per On3, Schmitt earned a high-4-star rating along with being a top-20 player at his position in the country. Both freshmen will have real chances to climb the two-deep this spring, but Schmitt’s physical tools give him the edge over Best.

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Oklahoma lost Febechi Nwaiwu and Derek Simmons to graduation following 2025.

Depth pieces like Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma State), Luke Baklenko (Arizona State), Logan Howland (Virginia Tech), Jake Taylor (Iowa State), and Isaiah Autry-Dent (Mississippi State) all transferred out of the program.

General manager Jim Nagy grabbed former Arkansas starting right tackle E’Marrion Harris — who has the upper hand to take over for Simmons on the right side — as well as Caleb Nitta from Western Kentucky and Peyton Joseph of Georgia Tech. The latter two players appear to be depth or developmental additions.

If Schmitt can ascend up the depth chart thanks to a strong spring, it would be a welcome addition to a top-heavy offensive line unit.

While Fodje impressed at right guard and right tackle for a freshman, the young lineman still has a ways to go. Competition would only allow for a better product if Schmitt can push this spring.

Schmitt’s trajectory is not to supplant anyone on the offensive line, but merely to develop quickly to help rebuild Oklahoma’s offensive line back to its pre-2020 greatness.

OU hit it out of the park with their freshman offensive line additions last season. It hastened the pace of Bedenbaugh’s line, returning to the days of Creed Humphrey and Orlando Brown. But they’re not quite yet at the summit. They’ll need another season of young players like Schmitt thrusting themselves into the two-deep so the Sooners aren’t an ankle roll away from disaster.