Oklahoma Sooners freshman offensive lineman Joshua Bates' debut season was marked by both promise and disappointment.
Joshua Bates played in just one game as a true freshman in 2023, participating in OU’s season-opening win against Arkansas State.Bates played in four games and started twice at center. It didn’t go well, as Bates had an emotional meltdown in Week 2 against Houston and played only two more games after that. Bates was the Sooners’ first commitment of the 2023 class, pledging to OU back in August 2021, during his junior season at Durango High School in Colorado.
He was the only member of the 2023 class of newcomers who actually committed when— the best defensive coordinator in college football,” Bates told AllSooners in 2023. “And I had a call with him the next day. Right as he got hired, he called me. And after talking to him, I mean, if you’ve ever talked to coach Venables, you’re all-in immediately. That’s kind of how it just is.Bill Bedenbaugh“At one point, he didn’t know if he had a job and I didn’t know if I had a spot as a scholarship at Oklahoma. But he was calling me, he was saying, ‘Josh, don’t go anywhere.’ He said, ’Just stick it out. Wherever I go, you’re gonna have a spot. You’re gonna have a scholarship.’ He called me a couple days after Lincoln Riley left, and a couple weeks after Brent Venables called him, and he kept his job and he called me right after. It was perfect.” Bates wasted no time ingratiating himself with the coaches and teammates when he arrived at OU. Players said spring and preseason practices were stopped several times to deal with physical skirmishes, and said Bates was usually in the middle of it. That fiery attitude cost him against Houston, when he got a late personal foul penalty after the Cougars piled on Jackson Arnold following a kneel-down. It stopped the clock and forced the Sooners to punt, and they hung on to win 16-14. Bates played 62 snaps that game and logged 78 the following week against Tulane, but hten played just eight snaps against Maine the rest of the season
Oklahoma Sooners College Football Freshman Offensive Line Discipline
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