Analyzing what 5-star DL signee David Stone means for future of Brent Venables, Oklahoma in SEC

Freshman defensive lineman David Stone is the crowned jewel of Oklahoma‘s 2024 high school signing class. With the five-star, No. 1 rated defensive lineman for 2024 representing one of the highest ranked prospects in recent memory for the Sooners.

On3’s Andy Staples believes Stone moreso resembles the defensive linemen that Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables landed during his time previously at Clemson compared to his two seasons in Norman. As Sooner Scoop’s Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia spoke with him on the impact of the addition of Stone.

“And David Stone’s a really good example of someone that if they want to win nine, 10 games next year they need him to be a freshman All-American. Or maybe not that high, but he needs to have an impact on next season and that’s what they’re trying to trend towards,” Stoia said. “And maybe it doesn’t show up completely next year, because like I said the schedule is extremely difficult and you are gonna have to rely on some young guys.”

Oklahoma enters their first season in the SEC with a relatively young roster and a difficult schedule ahead of them. With Vegas initially setting their season win total 6.5 before shifting it to 7.5 for their debut season in the Southeastern Conference.

But Stoia believes that if top national prospects like Stone and five-stars from the 2023 class like Jackson Arnold and Adepoju Adebawore can make an impact as young players for Oklahoma, then the program will continue to trend in the right direction year after year.

“But the long term trajectory of this thing, if you can continue to recruit and land some of those guys you mentioned Andy, that’s where all of a sudden in 2025 or 20206 you’re talking about a team that is able to run the table or win 11, 12 games in a season and get into the playoff,” Stoia explained. “So that’s the long term thing of this and that’s why I think next year I’m not saying that 6-6 or 7-5 is an acceptable season. It’s definitely not for Oklahoma as difficult as the schedule is.”

Oklahoma’s young players stepping up to the plate and impacting winning is a dream scenario for Sooners’ fans. But at the end of the day, they truly will not know how their team compares to the field until they get into the thick of their new, challenging SEC schedule.

“I just keep going back to the unknown,” Radosevich said. “There were so many people so comfortable with the idea that, and not to just take shots at a bunch of Big 12 schools, but there was a comfort in seeing an Iowa State or whoever, a Texas Tech even though they gave Oklahoma problems at the back end of the Big 12 era for Oklahoma. There was a comfortability that okay, you kind of get a little bit of a breath whether it be a Kansas or whoever. And again, Oklahoma struggled with those teams at the back end of the schedule.”

There’s no question that winning the trenches will be crucial for Oklahoma as they join the SEC. A department that Stone can certainly help the Sooners with in the short term that could also help the program long term in a major way moving forward.