{"id":74268,"date":"2025-06-03T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=74268"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:38:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:38:22","slug":"best-big-12-offensive-linemen-returning-for-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/06\/03\/best-big-12-offensive-linemen-returning-for-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Big 12 Offensive Linemen Returning for 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is no secret how deep the Big 12 is at the quarterback position<\/a>. But those quarterbacks aren\u2019t any good with the big men up front keeping their jersey\u2019s clean. Last Word continues its \u201cbest of\u201d series, looking at the five players with a case for the best Big 12 offensive linemen returning for action in 2025. To be eligible for our list, the players must be returning from the same school or within the conference.<\/p>\n

Best Big 12 Offensive Returning for 2025<\/h2>\n

5. Caleb Lomu – Utah<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Utah Utes came well short of preseason expectations in 2024. But Kyle Whittingham has plenty of reasons up front to think a quick turnaround is possible. That starts with one of the many returning starters on their offensive line in Caleb Lomu<\/a>. He has been projected as a potential first-round pick. Lomu started all 12 games at left tackle, allowing two sacks across 425 pass-blocking snaps. His 75.8 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets was eighth among Big 12 tackles in 2024. He earned a solid 76.0 PFF pass-blocking grade in his first year as a starter. Lomu finds himself amongst the best Big 12 offensive linemen returning and will see one of his teammates on this list as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Sam Hecht – Kansas State <\/span><\/h3>\n

Which school is the first to find its way into our collective thoughts when discussing offensive linemen? It\u2019s likely Chris Klieman\u2019s Kansas State Wildcats dominate those answers. The Wildcats have a great anchor at center in Sam Hecht<\/a>. He was a 2nd team All-Big 12 player in 2024. Hecht started all 13 games at center. He was on the field for 840 offensive snaps and was penalized only twice. His performance helped Kansas State, who has plenty of high-powered rushing attacks, set school records last season. Those came in rushing yards per carry (6.08) and offensive yards per play (6.57).<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Davion Carter – Texas Tech<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Red Raiders have had plenty of rightful attention on their transfer class<\/a>. But it is one of their returning players whom Joey McGuire is going to lean on up front. Davion Carter<\/a> appeared in all 13 games last year, starting 12 at right guard. His\u00a0 <\/span>70.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranked sixth among offensive players with at least 200 snaps. His pass-blocking grade was an impressive 86.2. That grade was good enough to place him 14th nationally among guards with at least 300 offensive snaps.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carter also only allowed one sack and nine pressures over 483 pass-blocking opportunities, making him one of the top pass-protecting guards in the country. Over his three-year FBS career, Carter has allowed only two sacks in 1,482 opportunities. <\/span><\/p>\n

2. Bryce Foster – Kansas<\/span><\/h3>\n

While there is only one football in play at a time, the search for the best Big 12 offensive linemen returning in 2025 brings us to the second center selection. Bryce Foster<\/a> is the anchor of the Kansas Jayhawks team, looking to build on a second-half surge in their 2024 season. The second team All-Big 12 member continued to add to accolades to a career that started at Texas A&M. He earned Freshman All-American honors in 2021. Out of 12 games played last year, Foster allowed zero sacks and only two hits on the quarterback. He also committed zero penalties. In addition to his football prowess, he excels on the track and field team for the Jayhawks. He is currently competing in the shot put at the NCAA track and field national championship. But for all that he has accomplished, he came just short of the top spot in our countdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best Big 12 Offensive Linemen Returning for 2025 Is Spencer Fano – Utah<\/span><\/h3>\n

Quite frankly, the top spot for the best Big 12 offensive linemen was not even up for debate. Spencer Fano<\/a> is, at worst, a top-three offensive tackle in all of college football. A first-team all-Big 12 selection in 2024 and a projected top-15 pick, Fano has been dominant in run and pass blocking. He led all FBS tackles with a 93.0 PFF overall grade this past season. Fano\u2019s 93.6 PFF run-blocking grade was the best in the country by more than three whole points. <\/span><\/p>\n

While pass protection is the weaker part of his game, Fano is far from a slouch. His 2024 performance earned a top-30 PFF pass-blocking grade among Power Four tackles (79.5). This included allowing 14 total pressures, one sack, and two quarterback hits. Utah\u2019s offensive line, which is one of the best in the country in 2025, will be carried by Fano\u2019s efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no secret how deep the Big 12 is at the quarterback position. But those quarterbacks aren\u2019t any good with the big men up front keeping their jersey\u2019s clean. Last Word continues its \u201cbest of\u201d series, looking at the five players with a case for the best Big 12 offensive linemen returning for action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3959,"featured_media":74278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,35671],"tags":[2956,8318,257,588,2832,240,318],"class_list":["post-74268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-big12","category-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-chris-klieman","tag-joey-mcguire","tag-kansas-jayhawks","tag-kansas-state-wildcats","tag-kyle-whittingham","tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","tag-utah-utes"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74268"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74279,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74268\/revisions\/74279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}