Tag: McKade Mettauer

2023 Position Review and Recruiting Outlook: Sooners offensive line marked by inconsistency

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive line was up-and-down in 2023 but once again finished strong and the future is bright.

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive line had an up-and-down season in 2023. They once again started the season slow, which has become a common theme in recent years.

But they were able to close the season pretty well, another common theme under Bill Bedenbaugh. It was a weird year for the offensive line that saw a lot of reshuffling up front.

They started the season with [autotag]Walter Rouse[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Andrew Raym[/autotag], [autotag]Savion Byrd[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag] as the starters along the line. At various points in the season, the line changed whether that was [autotag]Troy Everett[/autotag], [autotag]Cayden Green[/autotag] or [autotag]Jacob Sexton[/autotag] working their way into the starting lineup.

This was a group I was very high on to start the season, so let’s take a look at how I thought they fared.

Oklahoma offers Michigan State transfer OT Spencer Brown per 247Sports

Oklahoma is pursuing offensive line help in the portal, offering OT Spencer Brown, a grad transfer from Michigan State.

Oklahoma’s offensive line will look quite different when they get set to start their first season in the SEC.

The Sooners have lost or could potentially lose every starter from the line that took the field for the first game of this season. [autotag]Walter Rouse[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], and [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag] are headed to the NFL. [autotag]Savion Byrd[/autotag] and [autotag]Nate Anderson[/autotag] entered the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag] today. [autotag]Andrew Raym[/autotag] has yet to make his plans known, but there’s a real chance he will bolt for the NFL.

The offensive line changed throughout the season, and true freshman [autotag]Cayden Green[/autotag] usurped the left guard spot. He looks like the only penciled-in piece heading into next year. [autotag]Jacob Sexton[/autotag] took over at right tackle after Guyton suffered an injury and will have the inside track at one of the starting tackle spots.

So, how does [autotag]Bill Bedenbaugh[/autotag] construct the offensive line for new play-caller [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag]? That’ll be something to monitor over the coming months, but we know that Oklahoma is unafraid of seeking help outside the building.

Oklahoma has offered Michigan State transfer Spencer Brown (subscription required), per 247Sports national recruiting analyst Allen Trieu. Ole Miss and USC are also contending for his services. No visits have been set up as of yet, per Trieu.

A grad transfer, the 6-foot-6, 315-pound Brown is a true mauler who could bring some nastiness and much-needed experience to the offensive line. He has one year left and could slot in at the other tackle spot that Sexton doesn’t occupy.

The Sooners look to be actively searching for offensive line help via the portal, and tackle is an excellent start. It’s conceivable they bring in possibly two linemen from the portal to add depth, at minimum, for the interior offensive line and tackle.

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15 highest graded Oklahoma Sooners on offense per Pro Football Focus for 2023

The 15 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners on offense after the regular season.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ offense had a banner year in 2023. A number of players had great seasons for an offense that finished No. 3 in the nation in scoring and No. 4 in total yards.

It was an offense that scored more than 40 points seven times and 50 or more three times.

Though there were times when the offense needed to be better, it was one of the best in the nation. Their performances against Texas, Iowa State, West Virginia, and TCU were incredible, helping propel the Sooners to a 10-2 record.

But who were the most important pieces to the offense? Let’s take a look at Pro Football Focus’ top 15 highest-graded players on offense from the 2023 regular season.

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Report Card: Offensive fireworks help gloss over Sooners’ defensive woes

Offense dominates the day and passes final Big 12 test en route to a 69-45 win over TCU. We graded the team’s performance in this week’s report card.

Oklahoma has rebounded from the nightmarish season from 2022. They’ll spend the rest of Thanksgiving weekend at 10-2, a sharp contrast from the 6-6 record they amassed before their bowl game last year.

Friday saw the Sooners end their final regular season as Big 12 members in true Big 12 fashion with an old-fashioned shootout. The two teams combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense and 114 points in a 69-45 Oklahoma win.

Senior Day festivities preceded the game, with more than 20 Sooners recognized. Oklahoma’s win also solidified their 59th undefeated home record as well.

As Oklahoma waits to see how the rest of the Big 12 race plays out, we’re here to grade their performance in the win over TCU. Here’s the final report card for the regular season.

Oklahoma Sooners name permanent captains for the 2023 season

Oklahoma has named the permanent captains for the 2023 season.

Just like that, the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners regular season is about to come to a close. As we head into the final game of the season, the Sooners have announced who their permanent captains will be for the remainder of the season.

Those are [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag], [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag]. Four of those players will be honored on senior night this weekend.

Bowman has emerged here lately and taken his game to another level. He has 52 tackles, which ranks third on the team, and leads the team with five interceptions.

Downs has had a solid season, leading the Sooners with 4.5 sacks on the year. He’s also been one of the best interviews all season. You can tell how much of a leader he is for the team.

 

Gabriel is having a career year for the Sooners. His 69.9% completion percentage is a career high. He’s also only a little under 400 yards shy of breaking his career high in yards and only five passing touchdowns shy of setting a career-high in passing touchdowns. His 38 total touchdowns, however, is a career high.

Mettauer has been a steady force on an offensive line that has really found its groove recently. It’s helped pave the way for [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag] to have three straight 100-yard games on the ground.

Stoops embodies what this program is all about both on and off the field. He leads the team with 66 receptions and 755 yards and is tied for the team lead with nine touchdowns.

Stutsman is the emotional leader of the defense. You could tell his presence was greatly missed in the two losses. He leads the team with 91 tackles and 15.5 tackles for loss.

Washington has played a position that has seen a lot of turnover due to injury at the cornerback spot opposite of him. He’s been a steady force and leader for the cornerback position.

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Report Card from the Sooners dominant win over West Virginia

The Oklahoma Sooners came away with a dominant win over West Virginia, so how did they grade out in this week’s Report Card?

The Oklahoma Sooners broke their two-game losing skid with a statement win over the West Virginia Mountaineers. The win kept Oklahoma in the thick of the Big 12 title race. Just keep winning.

After an opening drive touchdown by West Virginia, the Sooners took complete control of the game, outscoring the Mountaineers 31-14 in the first half.

It was an incredible bounce-back performance for the Oklahoma Sooners, who needed a win to get back on track.

Here’s a look at how the Oklahoma Sooners graded out in their 59-20 win over West Virginia.

Dillon Gabriel, Drake Stoops have huge nights; Sooners dominate West Virginia 59-20

The Oklahoma Sooners got back to their winning ways with a huge 59-20 win over West Virginia.

The Oklahoma Sooners entered their primetime matchup with the West Virginia Mountaineers on a two-game losing streak. The OU team that showed up on Saturday night looked nothing like we’d witnessed in their road losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State in their 59-20 win over West Virginia.

On the opening drive of the game, the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag] marched down the field on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took a little over four minutes off the clock to take a 7-0. And then it was all Oklahoma from then on out.

The Sooners put together their own eight-play, 75-yard drive, culminating in Dillon Gabriel’s first touchdown of the night, a two-yard run to tie the game.

After the opening drive, the Sooners’ defense locked in and shut down the Mountaineers’ offense until their final drive of the first half. Oklahoma’s defense forced three punts, two turnovers on downs, including one at the goalline, and WVU missed a field goal. By the time West Virginia scored their second touchdown of the game, it was 31-14 Sooners.

In the first half, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] threw touchdowns to [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] and ran for two scores to stake Oklahoma to a big halftime lead.

In the second half, Oklahoma kept the pressure on West Virginia, and [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] started to take over the game. On another career day for the veteran wide receiver, Stoops caught three touchdown passes in the second half to leave no doubt in the Sooners win.

On one of those scores, Stoops was hit hard in the end zone on a play that was reviewed for targeting. That play led to a skirmish under the strobe lights inside Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. No penalties came of it, but on the ensuing point after attempt, [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag] went after Anthony Wilson for his hit and taunt of Drake Stoops and was ejected from the game.

But by that point in the game, the outcome was academic, as the Sooners had run away with the game.

In the win, Gabriel passed former Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan for 10th all-time in passing yards and had eight total touchdowns in the Sooners’ win. Gabriel finished the day completing 64% of his passes for 423 yards and five touchdowns and added 50 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the huge win. His eight total touchdowns are the most combined passing and rushing in the history of Oklahoma Football.

[autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag], who had a career game a week ago in the loss to Oklahoma State, was dominant for the Sooners in the passing game. He had 10 receptions for 164 yards and three touchdowns.

Getting his second consecutive start, [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag] carried the ball 22 times for 135 yards, showing great patience and explosiveness.

[autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] returned for the Sooners defense and recorded eight total tackles and two tackles for loss. [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] had seven total tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss.

The Sooners held West Virginia to 330 total yards, 4 of 16 on third down, and 2 of 4 on fourth down. Oklahoma was able to keep Garrett Green in check running the football, holding the dual-threat quarterback to 24 yards on 10 attempts.

Oklahoma recorded two interceptions in the win. One from [autotag]Reggie Pearson[/autotag] and the other from true freshman [autotag]Jacobe Johnson[/autotag]. As they had done during their 7-0 start to the season, the Sooners won the turnover battle.

With the win, the Sooners move to 8-2 on the season and 5-2 in Big 12 play. They received a bit of help from UCF who dominated Oklahoma State, opening the door a bit more for a trip to the Big 12 title game.

Oklahoma took care of their end of the bargain and will travel to Provo next Saturday to see if they can beat the BYU Cougars. BYU holds the all-time series lead at 2-0 over the Sooners.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.

Week 11 captains announced for the Oklahoma Sooners vs. West Virginia Mountaineers

The Oklahoma Sooners have announced who their captains will be vs. the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off back-to-back losses, but it’s now time to move forward. There’s still an outside chance the Sooners can make the [autotag]Big 12 Championship[/autotag] game. That starts this week as the Sooners return home to play the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag].

On Monday, the Sooners announced who would be representing them as captains for the Week 11 conference game. That would be [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag] and [autotag]Tawee Walker[/autotag].

Coe and Lacey are two of the key reasons the Sooners sit at No. 48 in the nation in run defense. They’ll be tested once again against a really good West Virginia rushing attack on Saturday. Coe has 22 tackles and two tackles for loss. Lacey has 15 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and one sack on the season.

Mettauer has been big all season long for the Sooners. Since his return from injury, it looks like the Sooners running game is finding its groove. We’ll see if that continues this weekend.

Stogner has had an up-and-down season. He has 10 catches for 91 yards but has been asked to be a key blocker for this team. After a rough first half, he seemed to play a much better second half this past Saturday.

Walker has been a pleasant surprise in 2023. The walk-on leads the team in rushing with 444 yards and is second in rushing touchdowns with six. He returned from injury last week and had a great day in limited action.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Report Card: Poor grades all around as Oklahoma loses to Kansas

Oklahoma struggles nearly across the board areas but how did each position group grade out in the loss to Kansas?

Oklahoma took their first loss of the season on Saturday, falling to the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag] on a rainy and disgusting day in Lawrence. From the first play from scrimmage, it appeared Oklahoma would be in for a fight. And sure enough, that’s precisely what happened.

Oklahoma fell victim to another slow start on both sides of the ball. The Sooners were never able to get their passing game going. Due to the weather conditions, they relied heavily on their offensive line and running backs to generate offense.

The sooners will try and figure things out as they get set to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in what will be the last Bedlam for quite some time.

OU played a rough game on all fronts. Some things were encouraging, but a lot of the performance put forth was not good enough. We broke it down by position group below.

Report Card: Sooners sleepwalk on offense in UCF scare

Oklahoma took on UCF for the first time Saturday. UCF hung tough but the Sooners pulled it out late. Here is this week’s report card.

Saturday’s performance was an aberration for Team 129. The team we saw on Saturday was eerily reminiscent of the team that took the field 13 times last season to not-so-fun results. Yet, they knuckled up and found a way when it mattered most.

If we’re being honest, last year’s team would not have won that game. But despite the miserable team performance, it never felt like they wouldn’t make the necessary plays to win. That is a true testament to the wholesale changes in mentality, effort, talent, and coaching from last year to 2023.

Let’s get to the bottom line here with the dust settled. Oklahoma won, but it might have been the worst they looked on offense all year. It’s time to pass out grades in this week’s report card.