The SEC is a line of scrimmage conference, and the Sooners, as constructed in 2024, are not a line of scrimmage team.

NORMAN  — For three years, the chronic question about OU football has been this. Are the Sooners SEC ready?

Thirty-four months ago, OU announced its eventual move to the Southeastern Conference, and since then, the focus on the SEC has been at the forefront of all things Sooner.

It’s possible that OU took its eye off the ball. The Sooners are 17-10 in Big 12 play these last three seasons and have not so much as made it to Arlington for the conference championship game, after winning six straight league titles. A relevant question any of those years would have been, are the Sooners Big 12 ready?

But it’s understandable. The SEC is Canaan, the land of milk and honey. The Sooners are ready to get out of Goshen. 

It all comes with great excitement, but much concern. Are the Sooners SEC ready?

That question has gone from chronic to acute. OU’s next conference game is against Tennessee. OU’s next true road game is at Auburn.

To quote the great George Allen when he jumped from coaching the Los Angeles Rams to coaching the Over the Hill Gang in Washington, “the future is now.”

And to answer the question at hand, are the Sooners ready for the SEC? Of course not.

They were. But they aren’t now.

In 2017, the team that Bob Stoops built and Lincoln Riley inherited, the Sooners had a roster that would have terrorized most of the SEC.

That OU team played Georgia in the national semifinal Rose Bowl. The Sooners took a big lead, Georgia rallied, the game went to double overtime and the Bulldogs prevailed 54-48. That Georgia team then lost to Alabama in an overtime national championship game.

OU was the equal of Georgia, which was the equal of Alabama.

Seven years later, the Sooners are not the equal of the Bulldogs or the Crimson Tide or perhaps even more of the SEC. Early predictions have OU slotted in the middle of the conference: sixth by College Football News, ninth by 247 Sports, eighth by Athlon.

Sure, the Sooners could surprise. Part of the pessimism is provincial, though that hasn’t stopped the gushing over Texas. Part of the pessimism is the schedule, which was loaded against OU, compared to the Longhorns. Part of the pessimism is that ghastly 6-7 season from 2022, which launched the Brent Venables era on a most-unfortunate direction.

But the real root of the pessimism is quite justified. The SEC is a line of scrimmage conference, and the Sooners, as constructed in 2024, are not a line of scrimmage team.

Go back to those 2017 Sooners. Five of OU’s six primary offensive linemen, all but center Erick Wren, played in the National Football League. Two of OU’s defensive linemen off that team remain in the NFL.

On offense, Orlando Brown has made 92 (and counting) NFL starts, Ben Powers has made 53 NFL starts and Cody Ford has made 33 NFL starts. Bobby Evans (35 games) and Dru Samia (15 games) also spent multiple seasons in the pros.

On defense, Neville Gallimore just joined the Miami Dolphins after four years with the Dallas Cowboys, and Obo Okoronkwo has played in 64 NFL games.

OU does not appear to have that caliber of linemen on the 2024 roster. 

At least defensively, that could eventually change. Brent Venables has recruited well, and the likes of David Stone and Jayden Jackson are quite the prized freshmen. But they’re not likely to go all Tommie Harris and be rookie behemoths.

For now, the OU line prospects break out this way.

A totally revamped O-line, heavy on the transfer portal and without an heir apparent to first-round draft picks Anton Harrison (2023) and Tyler Guyton (Thursday night).

A defensive interior sorely lacking depth, though the outside corps is quite promising, with Ethan Downs, R. Mason Thomas, Trace Ford and P.J. Adebawore..

Put it all in the kettle, and that’s no recipe to milk and honey.

Hence the portal additions of this week. Venables added Southern Methodist center Branson Hickman and Louisville nose guard Jermayne Lole.

Hickman seems like a solid prospect, if you can count a graduate-student senior with 33 SMU starts a prospect. Hickman was second-team all-conference in the American last season, and his presence sorely was needed after the Sooners lost presumed starter Troy Everett to a leg injury that required surgery and figures to sideline him until September.

Hickman follows the trend of the Sooners shopping in the mid-major aisle for offensive linemen. OU brought in Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas this off-season; Everett from Appalachian State and Caleb Shaffer from Miami-Ohio last season.

OU also added Geirean Hatchett from Washington, Spencer Brown from Michigan State and Michael Tarquin from Southern Cal.

All those newcomers join veterans Jacob Sexton and Jake Taylor, plus recent high school recruits, and who knows what Bill Bedenbaugh’s line will look like?

Adding transfers after spring is a relatively new phenomenon, but that’s the new mission of coaches. Roster maintenance and management has become evergreen.

“You’re certainly always assessing your own team and where you’re at, and you’re hoping that everybody stays, but that’s not likely in this environment,” Venables said. “So you adjust, be ready, prepared to adjust when it happens and be proactive from what that’s going to look like and where our needs might be and … who might be available.”

Or who could be available. Players are being enticed to enter the portal, either by family or agents or schools or their own green-grass desires.  

Venables seems to have lost his previous natural bias against adding too many transfers. He seems to realize that the Clemson Way he espoused just a couple of years ago is in the past. The portal is a lifeblood.

Arnold’s decision-making seemed improved over the Alamo Bowl; none of his throws came close to an interception. - by Berry Tramel https://t.co/X1VS46pFzF #SelloutCrowd

— Sellout Crowd (@selloutcrowd_) April 21, 2024

Lole, for example. With Jacob Lacey’s medical retirement, OU was caught short-handed at nose guard. Tennessee transfer Da’Jon Terry was a solid player last season, and Gracen Halton was solid as a backup, but Davon Sears didn’t play much after transferring from Texas State.

Lole was a really good player at Arizona State from 2018-20 but missed the 2021 season with a triceps injury. Lole transferred to Louisville, then missed the 2022 season with an elbow injury. Lole got on the field in 2023 and played well at Louisville, applied for a medical redshirt and then entered the portal.

He’s for sure not Tommie Harris and probably not Neville Gallimore. But Lole will help.

Still, even if Hickman and Lole turn into solid starters, OU’s decline in the trenches is quite problematic.

It didn’t help that freshman phenom Cayden Green, who started five games at guard last season, bolted for Missouri in December. The portal works both ways.

That makes rebuilding quite fluid. 

“You don’t know,” Venables said. “If it was the NFL, you know who’s getting ready to be a free agent. You can have like a real board that says, ‘All right, these are the free agents.’”

But the free-agent windows in college are fluid. Players can enter the portal at different times of the year, and the domino effect stretches in every direction.

“You have to try to stay aware in college football, but it’s always about finding and meeting our needs,” Venables said.

OU’s needs are simple. The Sooners need linemen. They need the kind of offensive linemen they had in 2017, and they need even better defensive linemen than they had in 2017, when OU was SEC ready.