Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma enters the 2012 season as the Big 12 favorite, but is that slowly changing, injury by injury?

One of the Sooners' biggest strengths was their offensive line, but with two big losses and another departure, the unit has turned into a big question mark.

Center Ben Habern, a three-year starter, chose to leave football after recurring neck and back issues. On Monday, the Sooners announced fellow three-year starter at guard, Tyler Evans, will miss the season with a torn ACL.

Habern had started 30 games entering this season. Evans, 29. All those 59 games of experience are suddenly off the field this season.

Incoming freshman and U.S. Army All-American John Michael McGee also left the team this week. That's a much less impactful loss this season, but McGee could have blossomed into something special.

As for this year's team, colleague Ivan Maisel noted that the Sooners now return just 43 total starts on the offensive line. That ranks eighth in the Big 12.

"Still think the Sooners are a top-five team?" Maisel wrote.

It makes you think for sure.

Quarterback Landry Jones is the biggest returning piece for the Sooners, but the biggest way to negate his effectiveness is to remove big pieces from his offensive line. Just ask Sam Bradford.

Guard Gabe Ikard (who now has to move to center to replace Habern) is the best player on the line for the Sooners, and he's still healthy, but Oklahoma has struggled to get a big push in some high-profile losses the past few seasons. Even 2008's famed line got stuffed on the goal line twice against Florida in the national title game, and 2010's team was stuffed three times in a loss to Texas A&M.

This season's line looked like one that would have the potential to get that push.

It's hard not to immediately draw a comparison to the 2009 team with the preseason injuries already in camp. As the nightmare season wore on, the offensive line got beat up more and more, eventually needing 265-pound tight end Brody Eldridge to start at center ... before he hurt his neck against Nebraska. This season's team isn't as good as that 2009 team that lost All-American tight end Jermaine Gresham and Bradford before halftime of the first game, but this 2012 team seemed to have the ability to win the national title.

With the losses on the offensive line, has that all changed now? We'll find out in the months to come.

John Michael McGee's tenure at Oklahoma appears to be over. The true freshman guard tweeted Monday afternoon that he was leaving the team.

“Goodluck to OU on the field I'll be watching,” McGee posted on his Twitter account. “It's just not for me.”

Bob Stoops said he gave McGee the day away from the team to contemplate whether he wanted to go ahead and leave.

His departure is another blow to an offensive line that’s been ravaged by injuries this season. Monday, Stoops confirmed that three-year starting guard Tyler Evans has suffered a knee injury and was undergoing an MRI. Stoops feared that it could be a torn ligament. Last week, Stoops announced that veteran center Ben Habern was giving up football because of a bad neck and back.

OU is also without guard/center Nila Kasitati, who underwent a procedure on his heart last week. The ailment is believed to be non-life threatening and offensive line coach James Patton said he’s hoping to get Kasitati back on the practice field in the next few days. Reserve center Austin Woods is still undergoing chemotherapy treatments even as he practices with the team. Woods was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in the spring.

McGee was the No. 12 guard in the country coming out of Texarkana, Texas, according to ESPN. He signed with the Sooners despite having offers from Michigan, Notre Dame and Alabama, among others.

“John Michael McGee is a freak athletically,” Patton said of him in the spring. “He’s not as big as (former OU All-American) Trent Williams, but in terms of a linemen who can move and bend and has quickness and agility – we saw him on tape and they threw a tackle screen to him and he walked in for a touchdown. In terms of his athleticism, he can do a lot of different things for us.”

Offensive line coach James Patton weighs in on Oklahoma’s offensive lineman signing class:

• G John Michael McGee: “John Michael McGee is a freak athletically. He’s not as big as Trent Williams, but in terms of a linemen who can move and bend and has quickness and agility – we saw him on tape and they threw a tackle screen to him and he walked in for a touchdown. He can probably play tight end. He’s just 6-3 and 265 pounds right now. He’s going to need to get his weight and strength up, but in terms of his athleticism, he can do a lot of different things for us.”

• C Ty Darlington: “He was number one in his class, he’s been coached by his dad at Opapka High School, he’ll be the Valedictorian of his class. He’s a great kid with toughness, he’s a leader and I can say enough about him. He’s a kid in the same mold as Ben Habern and Jon Cooper and those guys. He’s a quick-thinking guy. His mom was a cheerleader here and they were a Midwest City family and he grew up watching Sooner football for a long time.”

• OT/G Kyle Marrs: “Kyle’s a big, right tackle. He’s 6-6, 300 pounds and he looks great. I saw him last week. He’s a physical run-blocking guy. He probably is in the same mold of Bronson Irwin who played tackle in high school. He’ll probably be a good guard on the inside.”

• OT Will Latu: “Physically he’s a big, wide guy. He fills up half of this door here. He’s just a big-shouldered, wide, with a big back, arms, hands – he’s got a thick lower body.”

• On the offensive ine class as a whole: “We lost two with Stephen (Good) and Donald (Stephenson). We get two more (than that) coming in, and you know how it is with line play. We can be thin, but other guys can play other positions. If a guy gets hurt the next guys steps in. In next year’s class we’ll lose Habern, we’ll lose Tyler Evans, we’ll lose Lane Johnson. So these guys coming in that will probably redshirt – maybe Latu has the best chance to play early – those other three will get a chance to redshirt and develop.”

As National Signing Day approaches on Feb. 1, Brandon Chatmon is breaking down every commitment and signee in the Sooners' 2012 recruiting class. View all of our profiles here.

Name: John Michael McGee

Position: Offensive guard

Height, Weight: 6-foot-3, 275 pounds

Hometown/School: Texarkana,Texas/Texas

Committed: June 23, 2011

Scout grade: 80. Four-star prospect.

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The first time Oklahoma offensive linemen verbal commits Ty Darlington (Apopka, Fla./Apopka) and John Michael McGee (Texarkana, Texas/Texas) met each other was on their official visits to OU two weeks ago.

They won’t have to wait nearly as long for their second meeting as both will be in San Antonio this upcoming week for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

“I’m real excited about this opportunity and to get a chance to spend more time with some of the commits,” Darlington said. “The level of competition is going to be incredible.”

OU has five commits in the U.S. Army game and three in the Under Armour All-America Game next week.

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