Newcomer Profile: Why Oklahoma DL David Stone Has Bigger Plans Than Football

The Sooners' new 5-star defensive tackle came to OU to change the culture under Brent Venables, but he's got his mind set on a future well beyond the game.

David Stone (0), Brent Venables / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

NORMAN — David Stone has big plans for life beyond Oklahoma football.

The NFL? Oh, sure. Of course. That’s what every cat-quick 300-pound defensive tackle dreams of, playing professional football for as long as the sport will have him.

But think past the NFL. Past football. Past athletics.

“I want to do something in the medical field,” Stone says. “I want to become a neurosurgeon. That's my goal.”

Now that’s not something most defensive tackles dreams about.

But clearly, David Stone is not like most defensive tackles — or most football players, for that matter. He may be a 5-star recruit and a can’t-miss prospect and a future star in the college football trenches and the kind of player the Sooners haven’t signed in a generation — and he’s certainly applying himself accordingly to the vocation that is OU football. 

But he also has a vision for success off the field.

“Just getting my degree,” Stone said last month. “ … Right now I'm studying biology. I have plans to go to med school, so academics are very big for me. You know, I take it with a grain of salt though, because I wanted to study in neurology and they don't offer it here. So biology is something that I'm definitely enjoying.”

Stone came to Oklahoma to pressure quarterbacks and wreck offenses and win championships. But turns out he also has a passion for the biological sciences.

“I didn't know if I was going to enjoy it, but  I've been loving it. We had lab today earlier, and it was definitely a great experience. I have a video on my phone … it was this organelle that we had and it gave birth on camera, which it wasn't really supposed to. I had got it out the tank and I noticed that, OK, it was pregnant at the start of our experiment, and I noticed, OK, you know, the egg is getting bigger. I’m like, ‘How big is the lifespan of the organelle,’ and it was two weeks. 

“I noticed it could give birth in the next day or two. But as the lab went further on, I kept noticing that the baby was starting to move around and she started to contract. And so it was probably like a 20-minute window of us just waiting for it to happen and so we were like, switching phones out, recording it and it ended up giving birth on camera. Like, right before everyone left. … Everyone in the class was going crazy about it. It was a fun time.”

WATCH: David Stone interview

Stone can talk about weakside stunts and wham blocks and zone dogs as well as any 3-technique. But how many 3-techniques can describe birthing cycles of organelles and talk about neurosurgery?

Stone grew up in Del City, OK, in a family that cheered for the Sooners. He spent his final two years of high school football playing at the highest level in the nation, at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. One of his teammates at IMG was fellow freshman defensive lineman Jayden Jackson, who recalls clearly the first time he encountered Stone on the football field.

Brent Venables and David Stone (0) / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

He saw Stone get knocked to the ground, and Jackson thought, "Yeah, sure. He’s not that good." But then Stone bounced off the grass, chased the play 20 or 30 yards down the field, caught the runner and punched the football out for a fumble.

“His technique wasn’t all that,” Jackson recalled, “but the thing he had was effort. You know, he would get pancaked, and as soon as he would get up, he would run straight to the ball, 20 yards deep, and make a play. It was his effort.

“It was a spark in my eye. It kind of like motivated me in a way and kind of showed me the way I need to work to be on this level.”

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Stone was among the 25 or so incoming OU freshmen who graduated early from high school so he could get his college career started. He spent the winter gaining muscle, losing fat and getting stronger and quicker and fitter, and just last week finished his first spring practice as a college football player. He opened with the No. 2 defense, and occasionally played with the 1s, and contributed two tackles and a sack — and definitely looked like he belongs.

Part of that is his drive. Part is his natural talent. Part is his position coach, Todd Bates, and his patient tutelage.

“David, he's fast. He's strong,” said senior d-tackle Da’Jon Terry. “He's stronger than I thought. He's faster than I thought. So he's an amazing player. He's just got great football instincts — stuff you just can't teach. He's just natural with it. He just plays. I really can't even explain it. He's a great player. He's just instinctive.”

“David’s really good,” said senior linebacker Danny Stutsman. “His hands are really good and he has a plethora of moves that he uses. It works against the veteran linemen and I’m really excited to see how it transitions later on.”

Stone is the Sooners’ highest-rated interior defensive lineman since fellow OKC 5-star and National Defensive Player of the Year Gerald McCoy signed in 2006. He came to Norman to help Brent Venables change the culture at OU, back toward a defensive-oriented, smash-mouth, punishing identity. 

“The reason why I chose this school is because the rich history that they have.," he said. "All I can really say is I want to get back to where the history was, you know, start my own chapter of the football program to where, you know, the days of Sooner Nation is talked about for years to come.”

David Stone (0) / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

According to Stone’s teammates, he’s already making progress toward that goal. He played last year at 283 pounds, came to OU at 289, and last week Venables said he tipped the scale at just over 300 pounds. That kind of devotion to the process already has impressed Stone’s teammates.

“Having a freshman come in and compete at this level is phenomenal,” Stutsman said. “It helps the older guys that are in the room. That competitive depth leads to a great locker room.” 

Likewise, Stone admits he’s been impressed with the way his new teammates have worked this offseason. The players have embraced the idea of a tougher future in the SEC, and they’ve put in the work to be able to compete on that level. It’s eye-opening for any freshman — even a 5-star.

“Yeah man, just seeing those guys now is definitely a surreal experience,” Stone said. “Because, you know, I was watching them on TV a couple months ago, but now I'm in the room working with them, and we're definitely having that relationship that’s necessary for us to be a brotherhood. Just seeing those guys work, man, it's different. They rarely get tired, if they ever do. It's just like they’re soldiers on the field.

“The workouts are definitely something I enjoy doing. I can see that I'm improving. Whether it be, you know, just finishing a little bit quicker or having no errors when it comes to the drills. It’s constant improvement daily that I need to make.”

David Stone (0) leads the defense out at the spring game. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Stone has heard the idea that he’s here to take OU football into the future — a future where Venables’ defense is the cornerstone of the program. And frankly, although he would prefer to stay humble, Stone doesn’t shy away from those expectations — largely because he knows any success he experiences will be rooted in his teammates’ efforts around him. 

He’s great and all, but he’s even better with Terry and Jackson next to him and Stutsman behind him, and so on.

“Expectations are something that I'm not new to,” Stone said. “So I'm definitely going to make sure that I do everything I can to live up to the expectation I set for myself, because at the end of the day, my expectations for myself are pretty much higher than expectations that I hear or perceive from anyone else.”

Stone stays humble about announcing his goals. He said he wants to work as hard as he can and show improvement every day. 

But he also realizes what kind of reward could be just ahead of him if he applies himself and fulfills his lofty expectations.

“You know, hopefully, God willing, I could get drafted first round,” he said. “That’s the expectation for myself.”

And then?

“Going to med school is something that I'm very serious about,” he said. “Hopefully I could, you know, take the MCAT sometime — maybe in college. But you know, I'm pretty ahead as far as like, when it comes to credit hours. 

“So I feel like I could graduate early, in three years. Maybe two.”

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