OU has several candidates for left tackle slot
OU football
OU has several candidates for left tackle slot

By Scott Wright

Published: March 22, 2007

NORMAN — In years past for the Oklahoma Sooners, entering spring football practice without knowing who would start at left tackle was cause for concern.

This spring is different.

The Sooners still don't know for sure who will start at left tackle, the spot vacated by Chris Messner, but they know it will be a pretty good player.

Next comes deciding which of their pretty good players will get the job.

"We had one All-Big 12 player last year, Chris Messner,” OU offensive line coach James Patton said. "He's not here anymore. So who's going to be the next guy to step up?

"(The competition) starts now. It doesn't start in the fall.”

And it starts with the big guy — 6-foot-8, 350-pound Phil Loadholt, a junior from Garden City (Kan.) Community College.

Through five spring practices, Loadholt tops the depth chart at left tackle, a position that increases in importance when it comes to watching the back of OU's inexperienced quarterback — regardless of which QB gets the starting job.

Loadholt will be pushed by 6-foot-7, 295-pound redshirt freshman Cory Brandon, who put on nearly 30 pounds since injuring his knee early last season.

With two returning starters at right tackle — Branndon Braxton and Trent Williams — there's the possibility of one of them flipping to the left side. But which one?

"Trent Williams played good,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. "So is that Branndon Braxton's spot, or Trent's? Because Trent was pretty good. And we thought Branndon was playing as good as anyone when he got hurt.”

Interestingly, at Garden City, Loadholt primarily played right tackle, which is subtly different than left tackle.

"I knew I was gonna be playing left before I came here,” Loadholt said. "I did some things working on it. Coach Patton kept in touch with me. It's a new experience, but I'm trying my best to make it comfortable right now.”

Left guard Duke Robinson also can't be forgotten as a possibility at tackle, if necessary. He was Messner's backup last year.

"It's a great situation to have depth,” Patton said. "We had seven, maybe eight (linemen) last spring. Now there's 12 guys.

"That's a great thing. It's competition. That's what you should want. If you were a starter last fall, you should want to be a starter next fall.”

But with Loadholt in the mix, one of the five returning starters could be on the sideline.

As impressive as Loadholt's physical stature is, coaches are raving about his agility. As a high school senior in Fountain, Colo., he was runner-up for the state's Mr. Basketball award.

"Loadholt has great size, great feet and a great work ethic to go with it,” coach Bob Stoops said.

The starting job isn't his yet, though. The competition, Stoops says, is still wide open.

"To me, it's the only fair way to direct a team, the guy who is performing the best plays,” he said. "It has nothing to do with age or anything else. It's what you're doing on the field and what your production is.”