It's no secret that the Oklahoma Sooners offensive line faces a lot of upheaval, having to replace all five starters from last year. They had to turn to stopgaps in the transfer portal to boost their depth, but the long-term outlook of the room is still being shaped.
While they have plenty of intriguing young talent on the interior with players like Eddy Pierre-Louis, Eugene Brooks, Heath Ozaeta, and Daniel Akinkunmi, their offensive tackle room doesn't quite boast the same high-profile recruits behind it from the 2023 and 2024 classes.
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However, they might have found a potential starter for the rest of 2024 and potentially 2025 as well.
Midway through the Sooners' Week 2 matchup against the Houston Cougars, right tackle Jake Taylor went down with an injury. Taylor was already banged up entering the game but was pulled after just 23 snaps.
The Sooners shuffled the offensive line, moving startling left tackle Michael Tarquin over to right tackle and inserting redshirt freshman Logan Howland in at left tackle.
After digging through the film and numbers, I'm not convinced Howland should leave the starting lineup, even when Taylor returns.
Howland showed pretty good fundamentals throughout, demonstrating accurate hand placement and good pad level in his limited snaps. Of his 22 pass-blocking snaps against Houston, both I and PFF charted him with just one negative rep. Outside of that one rep, a pretty clean game in pass protection from him.
Room for Improvement
Now, there are a couple of things I'd like to see Howland improve on. In pass protection, I'd like to see him stay square longer and be able to protect his inside better. That's where Houston got him and scored a QB hit on Jackson Arnold last week.
He's also (like the rest of Oklahoma's offensive line seemingly) better in pass protection than the run game. Most of his worst reps came while run-blocking, with either a missed assignment or failing to drive a defender out. As he continues to develop and get stronger, that should likely even out, as his fundamentals are pretty solid.
Moving Forward
The Sooners are still working out their best starting five. Michael Tarquin and Febechi Nwaiwu are easily their top starters and have strung together two strong games so far, but the tackle spot opposite of Tarquin, center, and left guard have been weak points of the team.
Where Howland plays could depend on when Jake Taylor can return to the lineup. If Taylor can't return this week, I'm in favor of letting Logan Howland stay at left tackle and having Tarquin man the right tackle spot.
If Taylor returns this week to play at right tackle, Tarquin should stay at left tackle, which puts Howland in a bind.
While Oklahoma has planned to involve younger players like Eddy Pierre-Louis at guard, I'd explore giving Howland a shot at left guard and Tarquin stick at left tackle if Taylor returns to man the right tackle spot.
Moving Howland inside might help him protect his inside shoulder better. I'm also not sold on his athleticism on an island against the speed the SEC will boast, and a move to guard could help. Left guard Jacob Sexton has arguably been their worst starter as well, so this could be an upgrade.
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