Arkansas didn’t get much of a look at David Oke last season, but the Razorbacks are banking on what they saw in the brief flashes.
The redshirt senior played in only three games in 2025 while dealing with nagging knee-related issues, finishing with four tackles and one tackle for loss. Now back for one final college season, Oke looks healthy for the first time since arriving last summer, and that has made him a notable piece in Ryan Silverfield’s defensive plans.
Silverfield singled him out as a transfer who arrived with real buzz but never got the chance to show it.
"David Oke is a guy that was a highly recruited transfer but missed most of last year with an injury," Silverfield said. "He's coming in and doing some really good things."
That reputation didn’t come from nowhere. Arkansas had to beat out a long list of programs for the Nigeria native, who drew heavy interest from Virginia, BYU, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, USC and others.
At Abilene Christian, the 6-foot-2, 292-pound defensive tackle put together a big junior season, piling up 63 tackles, 9.5 for loss, six quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, one forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a blocked field goal. He entered college as a former 3-star defensive line prospect in the 2022 class and chose the FCS path over offers from Arkansas State, Buffalo, Houston, Nevada, New Mexico, North Texas, Utah State and UTSA.
For Arkansas, the appeal is obvious. Oke brings the kind of interior presence the defense lacked last year, especially in the disruption department. The Razorbacks managed just 22 sacks, 65 tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries despite forcing one turnover per game, and Oke’s ability to slip gaps and chase plays from the backside fits exactly what defensive coordinator Ron Roberts wants.
Roberts said the staff feels better about the interior depth than it did before.
“In our picture, we’ve said, okay, we’re good,” Roberts said. “We think we have, of the three d-lines for us, we think we’ve got six [linemen] that could rotate in and contribute and play at any time. We’d like to get the seventh and eighth guy in that mix.”
Roberts also laid out the standard he wants from the group: effort, pursuit and havoc.
“Our kids should play extremely hard," Roberts said. "You should be able to see it in the way we play, that we love the game. And love each other and respect each other by the performance that we put on the football field.
"You should be able to see that in the tape, in how well we pursue the football, and we’re going to create havoc. You look at how defenses are built most of the time nowadays, it’s creating negative plays, creating the turnovers, getting the ball back for your offense soon as you can.”
If Oke can hold blocks, help shut down the run and let Bradley Shaw, Khmori House and others work cleanly behind him, Arkansas will have a much better chance of becoming tougher up front. His role may not be flashy, but it could be one of the more important ones on the defense.
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Most projections have him opening the season behind other backcourt options, with his exact role and minutes still to be sorted out as the schedule gets closer. That is where the intrigue starts for Arkansas, because Andrews has the talent to force the issue quickly, but the staff also has to decide how much responsibility to hand him early and how to balance his development with the rest of the rotation. The first real glimpse should come soon enough, and it may only sharpen the question of how long Calipari can afford to leave that upside in a reserve role. [Read more 🡒]