Five-Star Plus+ DL David Stone a 'must-get' for Oklahoma

Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy Five-Star Plus+ defensive lineman and Oklahoma native David Stone is 10 days away from announcing his commitment.

After Oklahoma struck out in the recruitment of Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North Five-Star Plus+ defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri, the Sooners’ defensive line recruiting relies heavily on Stone.

Sooner Scoop recruiting insider Josh McCuistion spoke with On3’s Josh Newberg about Stone being a “must-get” for the Sooners’ 2024 class.

Stone a ‘must-get’ for Oklahoma

“I think he is,” McCuistion said. “I think it’s for a lot of the same reasons that Williams Nwaneri was so important to Missouri. He’s an in-state product, you don’t have a lot of those guys coming from these states. If Oklahoma is trying to rebuild that defense and do the things that Brent Venables did at Clemson, it all starts up front. You can go back to even his early days at Oklahoma — guys like Gerald McCoy and Tommie Harris — those were foundational pieces that made those defenses go under Brent Venables.

“And David Stone is that kind of talent. He is that kind of difference-maker. When you lose a guy like Williams Nwaneri, which was always going to be a battle, it only makes the battles that you have some advantages in more important and more certain. They’re more focal to what Oklahoma is trying to accomplish defensively.”

DL class can finish strong

Despite losing out on Nwaneri, McCuistion is confident that the Sooners’ defensive line class can still finish strong. Currently, Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy three-star defensive lineman Jayden Jackson and Rogers (Minn.) three-star EDGE Wyatt Gilmore have pledged to Oklahoma.

“I still feel good about where they are,” McCuistion said. “We talked about it recently with the possibility of Oklahoma and all the five-stars they were in on. Those possibilities, with the exception of Williams Nwaneri, are still there. Dominick McKinley, they are still in a good position for. I think they’re the leader for David Stone. You go down the list and Nigel Smith, Danny Okoye — there’s a chance where Oklahoma’s defensive line class is still one of the best in the country. And it’s certainly in that conversation for that top spot.

“Now, they’re going to have to close some guys here and finish. And again, losing Nwaneri kind of narrows your margin for error. So they need to start having some hits here, and they should know fairly soon. We’re 10 days out or more from David Stone’s decision, Nigel Smith in early September. So there’s a lot that can play out here and I like where Oklahoma is. But again, with Williams Nwaneri, you just kind of have that feeling of what could happen here at the final stretch?”

Miami making a push

Oklahoma leads in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) with a 79.1% chance to land Stone’s commitment. However, McCuistion said that there is plenty of buzz surrounding Mario Cristobal and the Miami Hurricanes.

“The school that all the buzz is around right now is Miami,” McCuistion said. “There’s no question that that’s the one that he’s been pretty open about. His family having some real interest in maybe living down there and being in that area. At the same time, again I still think Oklahoma is in a good spot. And I know and have known David for so long, there is some gamesmanship in almost anything he does so I wonder how that plays into some of this. But there’s no question, there are people around him that think his best choice would be getting away from home. So we’ve got to see if that can win out in the end.

“I like where Oklahoma is. But again, after something like yesterday with Williams Nwaneri and all that we thought we knew, you kind of wonder is there a curveball in there somewhere that can throw everything off?”