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Brent Venables Inks Foundational Piece for Oklahoma's Defensive Line in David Stone

The Sooners signed 5-star defensive tackle David Stone on Wednesday, a key development in Oklahoma's transition to the SEC.

Ryan Chapman

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NORMAN — Brent Venables officially signed the centerpiece of his defensive line on Wednesday.

David Stone, a native Oklahoman who flew up recruiting rankings while playing at IMG Academy in Florida, put his name on the dotted line, delivering the Sooners a top 10 recruit at defensive tackle.

Stone was a recruit that defensive tackles coach Todd Bates and Venables simply had to land with the program SEC-bound, and OU surrounded him with four other highly touted signees in Nigel Smith II, Danny Okoye, Jayden Jackson and Wyatt Gilmore.

“I really love the defensive line, and we've talked about that as being something where everything starts up front, as the saying goes,” Venables said at his Signing Day press conference on Wednesday. “… I’m really excited about that group of guys up front combined with the guys that we're gonna have coming back, transitioning and going into the SEC. We've got length, size and power. It's still a developmental game, but these are guys that have a tremendous foundation already.”

To compete with the upper echelon in the SEC, Oklahoma will need depth along both lines of scrimmage.

But the Sooners will also need difference makers that can wreck plays and clean up the picture for the defense behind them, and that’s exactly the kind of potential Stone has as a prospect.

Stone also brings leadership to the table off the field, a combination that has Oklahoma’s coaching staff giddy with excitement.

“He's got really endearing leadership qualities to him,” Venables said. “He's humble, hard-working, tough, really smart, articulate ... he's a leader of young men. Players follow him.”

Stone was rated at the nation’s No. 7-overall player by both On3 and Rivals, and ended as the No. 19 recruit in 247Sports’ player rankings.

He’s On3’s highest-rated defensive tackle in the country, where he projects to pair nicely with last year’s elite defensive end recruit in Adepoju Adebawore, among OU’s other defensive linemen.

As much excitement surrounded Stone’s signing, he won’t have to carry the load immediately as a true freshman.

The return of Jacob Lacey and Da’Jon Terry will give Oklahoma plenty of experience up the middle while Stone gets acclimated to life in Norman.

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Stone’s next steps, learning the defense and working diligently under Bates, won’t be taken alone.

“I want to help all these guys take off all the burdens of expectation off your shoulders,” Venables said. “At some point in time, they're going to show up here and just going to be 18 years old. All these guys, they're just babies trying to figure out life. They don't have all the answers. There's a development piece that's going to be very real. There's going to be immediate challenges for each and every one of these young guys.

“… Let's just move in and have some fun. Let's go (to) the first testing time in the weight room and let's have some fun. It's just football.”

That process will begin in January for Stone, who intends to enroll early alongside Gilmore, Jackson, Okoye and Smith, allowing strength coach Jerry Schmidt to get a head start at shaping Oklahoma’s future defensive front in the weight room. 

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is managing editor at Sooners On SI and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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