2023 Rankings: Offensive Line Breakdown

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> Here in the month of June we’re updating all of our prospect rankings as the 2021 season gets closer and closer. For the 2023 class, we went from a Top 50 to a Top 100 as this class continues to get deeper and deeper. The margin between the ranked players is very close and this class has a chance to be fairly deep from top to bottom. You can check out the <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/06/updated-2023-oklahoma-rankings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Top 100 Right Here</strong></a>. Throughout the week, we’ll be adding some analysis on the players that have stood out in the 2023 class with positional breakdowns, newcomers and even prospects on the border of being ranked this time around. Stay tuned for next week when we update the state’s 2022 class. For now, we take an in-depth look at four offensive linemen who stood out to us during this last ranking update. [player_tooltip player_id="50786" first="JaKobe" last="Sanders"] <strong>- Stillwater (#1 OL - #9 Overall)</strong> Similar to [player_tooltip player_id="38777" first="Jacobe" last="Johnson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="38778" first="Kanijal" last="Thomas"], the battle for the #1 OL spot in the class of 2023 has been a 2 man battle for the most part between [player_tooltip player_id="50786" first="JaKobe" last="Sanders"] and [player_tooltip player_id="38779" first="Jonathan" last="Ashford"] over the past few seasons. Though Ashford comes in one spot behind JaKobe in the latest rankings, both big men have plenty of ball left to play to decide who the top dog will be. For now, JaKobe gets the nod due to the growth his game has seen since the end of last season, specifically with his unique combination of athleticism and power that allows him to play all 3 positions on the inside. Sanders played guard for the Pioneers most of the 2020 season and did so at an elite level, but he has recently moved inside to center and has looked just as dominant. JaKobe has the top interior OL spot locked up right now for 2023, and it would take a lot to top him moving forward. [player_tooltip player_id="157512" first="Jax" last="Rumsey"] <strong>- Moore (# OL - #45 Overall)</strong> After seeing a handful of plays from [player_tooltip player_id="157512" first="Jax" last="Rumsey"], we knew he had to be added to our 2023 OL rankings. At 6’4" 275, Jax has excellent size for his age and boasts a similar combination of size, strength, and speed, that the other top OL in this class possess. In the run game, Moore used Jax in a variety of ways, all of which had similar results. Whether he was asked to match up 1on1 with a DT, work to the second level to take out a linebacker or safety, or even pull to the play side on power run plays from left tackle, someone was getting put on the ground in a hurry. In the passing game, Jax never looked lost or out of place. He often beat rushers by simply anchoring down and not allowing them to gain much ground before he hit them with his initial punch, which was often enough to knock them off balance or off of their feet completely. [player_tooltip player_id="157513" first="Levi" last="Lawson"] <strong>- Checotah (# OL - # 56 Overall)</strong> At 6’4" 345, [player_tooltip player_id="157513" first="Levi" last="Lawson"] is one of the biggest linemen we have ranked across all classes. However, he is not just a big body that takes up space. In fact, he is incredibly light on his feet and he might be one of the nastiest finishers on this list. Just about every play on his tape that we saw ended with him pancaking a defender, oftentimes by simply bench pressing them downfield. Additionally, Levi is always looking for another defender to go level after taking out the first man that lines up in front of him. He rarely walks or jogs behind the play. Most of his matchups are a little uneven in terms of the size difference between him and the defenders he faces regularly, but the power he possesses is real and he uses that power to bulldoze through guys on every play. [player_tooltip player_id="38728" first="Gabe" last="Gaines"] <strong>- Choctaw (# OL - #71 Overall)</strong> Eventually, we’ll run out of Choctaw offensive linemen to rank, but that eventually is not right now. [player_tooltip player_id="38728" first="Gabe" last="Gaines"] played a significant amount of snaps for Choctaw in 2020 and was about as steady as they come in terms of Sophomore O-lineman. Due to personnel, Choctaw does not run as much between the tackles as a lot of other teams on this list do, but that didn’t change much in terms of our evaluation of Gaines. What Choctaw does a lot of, however, is pass the ball, and that is one of Gabe’s strengths. In spring ball and team camp, Gabe looked very smooth and at ease in pass protection in both normal pass sets and on rollouts where he had to run with defensive ends to keep Choctaw’s star QB [player_tooltip player_id="38780" first="Steele" last="Wasel"] free from pressure.