Looking to lend a hand in the recruitment of David Stone, Sooners legend Gerald McCoy made his recruiting pitch to the elite DL prospect.
Still looking to break the ice on their first commitment of the 2024 recruiting cycle, the Oklahoma Sooners are beginning to trend in the right direction for several prospects. Since completing their junior day this past weekend, Oklahoma’s picked up predictions from recruiting analysts for two talented 2024 recruits.
Josh McCuistion of SoonersScoop.com and Rivals issued a FutureCast predicting the Sooners to land three-star running back Xavier Robinson. That was followed up by Parker Thune of OUInsider and 247Sports issuing a crystal ball favoring the Sooners to land five-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri.
Nwaneri, a top 10 prospect in the 2024 class, is one of the most important names to watch this cycle.
Another player to watch over the next few months is also an elite interior defensive line prospect, [autotag]David Stone[/autotag]. Stone, a five-star player out of Del City has long been considered a priority for the Sooners. And it looks like a former Oklahoma Sooners’ defensive tackle is making it a priority himself.
[autotag]Gerald McCoy[/autotag], who starred for the Oklahoma Sooners at the tail end of [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ tenure at defensive tackle, made his thoughts known on where Stone should play his collegiate ball.
“Welp!! This should be easy now,” McCoy wrote on Twitter. “And you never know who might show up to help you get right!! SEE YOU SOON!!”
To which David Stone simply replied, “Soon…”.
McCoy, the former third overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft, had a long and distinguished career for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a centerpiece of Brent Venables’ defense and a key component to Oklahoma’s run at the BCS Championship in 2008. If there’s a former player that can speak to what a Brent Venables defense can do for a defensive lineman, it’s Gerald McCoy.
All of this comes after Michigan State‘s pass rush coach, Brandon Jordan, was hired away by the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. Jordan, a private pass rush specialist, has worked with some of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, including Chandler Jones, Von Miller, and T.J. Watt, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz.
Jordan’s departure follows the Spartans’ loss of their defensive line coach Marco Coleman to Georgia Tech in January.
It remains to be seen if this will have much of an impact on the recruitment of Stone, who said after the coaching change that he still has love for Michigan State. He’s planning a visit to East Lansing with his family along with friend and Sooners’ target [autotag]Mykel Patterson-McDonald[/autotag].
It remains to be seen how this all works out. Oklahoma will have to contend with Mel Tucker and the Spartans till the very end. And then there’s the wild card visit to Texas A&M that Stone took recently.
As we saw in the David Hicks recruitment, the Aggies will be a thorn in the side of every elite defensive line recruitment.
After missing out on Hicks in the 2023 cycle, the Sooners need to hit a home run with their interior defensive line recruiting in the 2024 cycle. Especially as they prepare for life in the SEC. The Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide have proven time and time again the importance of being stout in the trenches.
If Oklahoma can add Stone to what they did in the 2023 cycle with [autotag]Adepoju Adebawore[/autotag] and [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag], it will help put them in a much better position to be a force up front on defense in the years to come.
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