Freshman Tackle Nuku Mafi Discusses His Move to the Left Side and Where He’s Grown Most This Season

STILLWATER — Nuki Mafi stood in a hotel room mirror going through some basic steps.

Oklahoma State left tackle Markell Samuel suffered a freak injury in the Cowboys’ hotel walkthrough ahead of their Sept. 6 matchup against Oregon. That led Mafi, a redshirt freshman, to make the move from right tackle across to left tackle to cover for Samuel, but he had to do so before having a full-fledge practice. So, with road trip roommate Matthew Wade watching along, Mafi was going through his steps in the mirror.

“He knew I was stressing,” Mafi said. “I just kept looking at myself in the mirror, and I just kept repeating some tight footwork, some wide-zone footwork and really just trusting my technique. He just told me, said I got it. Alright, just go back to my fundamentals. That’s all it is.”

Mafi has been protecting Cowboy quarterbacks’ blindsides ever since.

After redshirting last season, Mafi has played 580 offensive snaps this season, according to PFF. That’s third-most among Cowboys, trailing only fellow offensive linemen Austin Kawecki (590) and Bob Schick (588).

Listed at 6-foot-4, 325 pounds, Mafi is tied for 13th out of 32 Big 12 tackles in pressures allowed among those who played at least 424 snaps, per PFF. That’s fairly middle of the pack, but should probably be viewed as an overall positive given the Cowboys’ struggles and the fact that Mafi is only a freshman.

“It is just his movements and his punch,” interim OSU coach Doug Meacham said. “He is very athletic and he’s got enough length to satisfy the edge. There’s a lot of guys with length but can’t move. … He’s got movement skills and twitch and punch. You’d think playing those guys even if they are not totally ready, it’s gonna expediate the curve and make them better as they go. Him being a backup, he’s not going to get good quick enough. Him playing, he’s going to learn from his mistakes and get good because he has great movement skills. He is a good football player and it means a lot to him.

“He was on the right side and he flipped to the left. That is kind of hard sometimes, you have to flip your feet and flip your brain essentially. I played right guard and they moved me to left guard one time and I kind of blew a gasket.”

Mafi came to Stillwater as a three-star recruit out of West High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had offers to Tennessee, Nebraska, BYU, Arizona State, Arizona and others, with OSU holding off late pushes from the Sun Devils and Cougars to keep him.

He said the area he’s grown most in since earning a starting job this fall is his ability to watch film.

Mafi said he didn’t really watch film in high school — a benefit of being 6-5, 295 pounds as a high school senior going up against defensive ends who spent the afternoon in Algebra II before standing across from the towering lineman. Mafi said film watching is a learned skill.

“Just learning from other teammates who have more experience,” Mafi said. “Like Bob (Schick), especially Bob. Bob’s been my big mentor. He’s been teaching me like this is how you’re supposed to do it. This is the footwork you need to play for this guy, so I just kinda picked up on it and continued just to build what I need.”