Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
We continue our positivity series by highlighting one thing we aren’t talking about enough for each SEC team. Today, we head to Norman, as we spotlight one underrated positive for the Oklahoma Sooners football heading into the 2026 season.
The Continuity
The amount of continuity that returns in Norman is arguably more than anywhere else in the league.
They’re one of six teams that return their starting quarterback for the 2026 season. Even fewer return their starter and offensive coordinator, but Oklahoma isn’t one of those teams. They get John Mateer and OC Ben Arbuckle back for a second year at Oklahoma and third year together overall dating back to their time at Washington State.
In or out on John Mateer in 2026? pic.twitter.com/98oVyAWIbG
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) May 11, 2026
They return 90 percent of their rushing yards from a season ago, and 95 percent of their passing yards. But games aren’t won and lost in the SEC in the box score for rushing and passing yards. They are, however, won in the trenches, and what Oklahoma brings back there is a huge cause for optimism going into 2026.
Not only does Oklahoma return all five starters from last year’s offensive line, but they return six different players with at least six starts from a season ago. In total their starting five have a combined 104 career starts, and none of that includes incoming transfer E’Marion Harris who played nearly 1,700 career snaps at Arkansas before transferring to Oklahoma. It’s a cliche at this point to talk about “the trenches” and their importance in the SEC, but that doesn’t make it untrue. Last year only one team returned all five starters on their offensive line. That was Texas A&M who won 11 games and hosted a College Football Playoff game.
This is the second-most experienced OL in five years. Last year was actually the most experienced (66.8%).
Those snaps were primarily made up from guys like Sexton, Taylor, Howland, Everett, Ozaeta and Nwaiwu. This year, it’s Fasusi, Fodje, EPL, Ozaeta and Maikkula. https://t.co/gMee7JExYb pic.twitter.com/TyeornMzqz
— George Stoia III (@GeorgeStoia) May 10, 2026
The line will be anchored by former five star and freshman All-American left tackle Michael Fasusi and will go into this year with the deepest and most experienced offensive line unit in the SEC by far. And that is something we aren’t talking about nearly enough heading into the 2026 season.
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