David Stone was supposed to arrive in Norman with star written all over him, and by 2026, that reputation has caught up to the reality. The Oklahoma defensive tackle is now being talked about as one of the 25 most important players in college football, a leap that feels earned after a 2025 season that turned him from a promising body into a real problem for opposing offenses.
The path there was anything but smooth. Stone, a consensus five-star recruit from IMG Academy and Del City, Oklahoma, came into college as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2024 class.
As a true freshman that fall, he played in all 13 games but was used sparingly, finishing with six tackles on 94 defensive snaps. Then came the moment that nearly changed everything: over Easter weekend in April 2025, he entered the transfer portal.
Two days later, Stone backed out and stayed with Oklahoma after conversations with defensive tackles coach Todd Bates and former Sooners defensive end Ethan Downs.
"A lot of personal things (were) going on," Stone said that August. "(But) I'm glad to be back. I'm focused on the season."
Bates had already seen enough to believe a breakout was coming. Before the 2025 season, he made that clear.
"He's been a model of consistency," Bates said. "He's really craving coaching and understanding, and he's actually the smartest player in the room."
That prediction landed. Stone played in all 13 games last season and started two of them, leading Oklahoma’s defensive tackles with 42 total tackles.
He added 8.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, six quarterback hurries and a pass breakup. His 26 pressures tied for third among SEC defensive tackles.
The underlying numbers backed up the production. Pro Football Focus credited him with a 13.0% run-stop rate, second in FBS only to Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald. He finished the regular season with a sack and four pressures against Auburn, then posted two quarterback hurries in Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff first-round game against Alabama.
The recognition has followed. PFF placed Stone No. 31 on its top-50 players list for 2026.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation named him a second-team preseason All-American in late June. CBS Sports included him among its 26 "most-feared" defensive players heading into the fall.
The NFL buzz is already there, too. Multiple 2027 mock drafts project Stone as a first-round pick, with CBS Sports putting him at No. 15 to the New York Jets and Saturday Blitz slotting him at No. 21 to the Dallas Cowboys. PFF also had him at No. 9 on its way-too-early 2027 big board.
What makes this next season so important for Oklahoma is the turnover around him. Gracen Halton and Damonic Williams, the senior tackles who helped anchor the 2025 rotation, are gone. Stone is expected to start next to Jayden Jackson, his former IMG Academy teammate and close friend, on an interior line that helped the Sooners finish No. 6 nationally in total defense and No. 3 against the run.
His spring was interrupted by a boot, which kept him out of most practices and out of the spring game. He did show up in full pads for one open session, but Bates pulled him from contact.
Brent Venables pointed to Stone by name in June during an SEC Network appearance while talking about the homegrown players who have helped build Oklahoma into a contender.
"That's a group of guys who are incredibly invested in our program, have been here," Venables said.
If Stone keeps climbing, Oklahoma gets more than a productive tackle. It gets a player who can force double teams, open lanes for edge rushers Taylor Wein and Adepoju Adebawore, and give the front a different kind of weight in the SEC race.
The game already seems to think highly of him. College Football 27 rated Stone at 94 overall, making him the No. 1 defensive tackle in the game.
The next step is the one scouts are waiting on. Stone has only two career sacks across 26 games, and the pressure numbers need to keep turning into actual finishes in the backfield.
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