‘I don’t think that’s going to happen to Oklahoma’: On3’s J.D. PicKell on if OU will get dominated in the trenches

The Oklahoma Sooners are heading into a new conference but one person from On3 says they will be just fine up front.

The Oklahoma Sooners are about to wrap up spring ball with just under two weeks to the Spring game. Still, there are a lot of question marks that need to be answered. The same is true for every team in the nation.

One of the biggest question marks for Oklahoma is how well will they hold up in the trenches in the SEC. The offensive line has been a major question mark since losing five starters from a year ago. The interior of the defensive line is talented but very young.

On3’s J.D. PicKell said he doesn’t think Oklahoma will have any problem holding up inside.

You bring back 79% of the production on defense from a year ago, which is massive. Brand new quarterback in Jackson Arnold. The thing about Oklahoma, I really think the defense is going to be okay. I think the defense is going to be more than fine to hold up their end of the bargain going into the SEC. I know that’s kind of the punchline for a lot of folks. ‘Ah, get ready for the SEC trenches. Get ready for those big boys up front, they are going to take you to the woodshed.’ I don’t think that’s going to happen to Oklahoma. – On3 Sports

PicKell went on to say he feels Oklahoma’s success will be directly tied to [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]. We obviously saw the good and the bad from Arnold in last year’s bowl game. He’s going to have to take care of the football.

I get where PicKell is coming from, but that’s too much optimism that I’m not ready to buy into just yet. I want to see it vs. SEC teams. I think the offensive line has talent but they have to gel. That’s the most important part. If they can be an average SEC offensive line, I think Oklahoma can have a big season.

But we haven’t seen that just yet. Also, if it’s a weakness of the team, the offensive coordinators can scheme up ways to cover it up so it’ll be interesting to see if they can do that.

I love the optimism from Pickell, but I’m not ready to buy stock in that just yet.

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