The Oklahoma Sooners will return one of the more experienced defenses in all of college football in 2024. The one spot that doesn’t have a lot of snaps to its ledger is the interior defensive line.
They bring back [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag], who played 306 snaps at defensive tackle last season. [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag], who played a lot for Texas State prior to his arrival to Norman, didn’t play much for the Sooners in 2023. Neither did former four-star [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag] or 2023 signees [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] or [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag].
Outside of Terry, no other Sooners defensive tackle played more than 100 snaps last season
There are some talented players with potential, but not much in the way of experience.
That’s why it was such a big loss when Jacob Lacey stepped away from the game due to a medical issue. Lacey led the defensive tackle position in snaps last season and was expected to start in 2024. With experienced depth lacking on the roster, the younger guys will have every opportunity to get on the field and make plays.
Someone who has an opportunity to fill that void is [autotag]David Stone[/autotag]. Last week the newcomers did a round of interviews and Stone spoke about what he needs to do to get on the field.
“Definitely handling my business,” Stone said. “Limiting the amount of errors that I make. As a freshman, that’s something that people tend to do is make mistakes but if I want to see the field, I know that’s something I’ve got to limit. I have very small room for error when it comes to technique so I just have to make sure I stay on top of things like that and learning the playbook.”
Defensive tackle is one of the positions that be difficult to make an impact early. They level of talent and physicality takes a significant step up from high school to college and from college to the NFL.
While the physical side is always tough, the mental side can be just as tough, if not more so, for incoming freshmen, especially in a complicated Brent Venables defense. But if Stone can figure things out and get the mental side down, he could be in for a big year.
Stone is no stranger to transition after moving from Del City to IMG Academy to play out his final two years of high school ball. He’s also no stranger to playing against the best as IMG attempted to schedule as difficult a slate of games as possible to highlight their athlete.
Every step of the way, David Stone has risen to the occasion. With his ability and mentality, there’s no reason to doubt he can’t come in and be an impact player in year one.
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