NORMAN - Danny Saili is around the Oklahoma program and working with the Sooners, but he still isn’t cleared to take the field.
The Arkansas transfer defensive tackle, who was first reported to be joining OU around the start of fall camp, has been practicing with the team even though he is not yet eligible to play. Brent Venables clarified on Wednesday, during the Southeastern Conference teleconference, that Saili is on the roster and getting reps.
“He’s on the team,” Venables said. “Like everybody, he’s been added to the roster.
He’s done a good job. He peddled out at your right away.
His fundamentals, his precision, his quickability well. I was incredibly surprised.
But yeah, he’s been added to the roster, and he’s currently practicing.”
Saili’s path to Norman has taken a few turns. He originally committed to OU as a junior college transfer in June 2023, then decided instead to go to Arkansas. He spent one semester there before transferring back to Arkansas, where he combined for 13 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in 2023 and 2024.
He first drew college interest out of Hutchinson Community College in Kansas, where he totaled eight sacks and 15 tackles for loss. Before that, he spent a year at Provo. Saili also was included on an OU roster that was passed out to media members before Venables’ game-week press conference.
For now, though, he remains in a holding pattern on the eligibility front. The NCAA adopted a “five for five” standard - five years to play five seasons - earlier in the summer, after a judge in Colorado ruled that athletes from the high school class of 2022 should be grandfathered into the NCAA’s new eligibility rules.
Because of that ruling, players such as Saili who weren’t clear in other cases are ineligible for the time being until the Colorado matter is resolved.
While Saili can’t play yet, Venables said the Sooners have seen enough to like what he brings.
“He’s on the team,” Venables said. “Like everybody, he’s been added to the roster.
He’s done a good job. He peddled out at your right away.
His fundamentals, his precision, his quickability well. I was incredibly surprised.
But yeah, he’s been added to the roster, and he’s currently practicing.”
Venables added that he was “incredibly surprised” by what Saili has shown early, and called him a “mature guy,” a “smart guy,” and someone who brings “great toughness” and “a great edge to him.” Venables also said Saili is “a very confident guy” who has done a good job building trust and relationships with the staff and his teammates.
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