Does Oklahoma Have Enough Depth Behind Stone, Jackson at Defensive Tackle?

The Sooners' starters at defensive tackle are among the best in the SEC, but questions remain about the depth of the position group.

Oklahoma defensive tackle Nigel Smith II warms up before a game. | Carson Field, Sooners on SI

Oklahoma’s defensive line was one of the nation’s best in 2025. And there’s no reason it shouldn’t be as good — or better — in 2026.

Nine of the Sooners’ defensive linemen recorded multiple sacks last year. OU led the SEC with 45 team sacks.

While key players like R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones Jr., Gracen Halton and Damonic Williams graduated after the 2025 season, the Sooners have plenty of returning experience on their defensive front.

David Stone and Jayden Jackson — both of whom will be juniors — will start on the interior of OU’s defensive line. Taylor Wein, who broke out with 39 total tackles and a team-high seven sacks last year, will start at one of the edges, while Adepoju Adebawore and Danny Okoye will likely battle for the other starting spot.

With so much returning talent, it’s hard to pinpoint a potential blind spot that could get in the way of the defensive line’s success.

But if there is one, it could be the depth at defensive tackle.

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Stone and Jackson make up arguably the best starting group in the SEC. They combined for 70 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2025, and both of them have significant NFL upside.

But behind them is a group of players who are largely unproven in Norman.

In addition to the departures of Halton and Williams, Markus Strong — who played over 100 snaps last year — transferred to Clemson in January.

Trent Wilson and Nigel Smith II earned repeated praise throughout spring ball, with their coaches and teammates saying that they’ll play major roles during the fall. Wilson and Smith played sparingly last year, most often appearing in lopsided contests.

The Sooners also picked up defensive tackle Bishop Thomas from the transfer portal. Thomas is now at his fourth school, following stints at Florida State, Colorado and Georgia State. He is coming off his best college football season, as he recorded 48 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks at GSU in 2025.

After OU’s spring game on April 18 — which Thomas did not appear in — coach Brent Venables applauded the transfer defensive tackle’s buy-in during his first few months in Norman.

"Bishop, when the ball’s snapped, he knows how to play d-tackle," Venables said. "He plays with incredible effort. The thing that was most attractive to me is Bishop makes a lot of plays several yards away from where the ball’s snapped."

Wilson, Smith and Thomas each have very minimal experience in Norman. But from Venables’ perspective, each of those defensive tackles will be able to take on any role he asks from them to fill.

It’s knitpicking to find any potential weaknesses on OU’s defensive line. But if there is one, it could be the lack of experience behind Stone and Jackson.