Oklahoma’s defensive front looks loaded again heading into 2026, but the one spot worth watching sits right behind the two guys expected to anchor the middle.
David Stone and Jayden Jackson are set to start at defensive tackle, and that pairing gives the Sooners a serious foundation inside. Both will be juniors, both have already shown they can wreck plays, and together they combined for 70 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2025. The source of the optimism is obvious: Oklahoma’s line was one of the nation’s best last season, the Sooners led the SEC with 45 team sacks, and nine different defensive linemen finished with multiple sacks.
Even with key departures after 2025 - R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones Jr., Gracen Halton and Damonic Williams - there’s still a lot of proven talent back. Taylor Wein is expected to start on one edge after breaking out with 39 total tackles and a team-high seven sacks last year, while Adepoju Adebawore and Danny Okoye are likely to compete for the other edge spot.
That’s why the real question isn’t whether Oklahoma has talent up front. It’s whether the Sooners have enough depth at defensive tackle if they need to go beyond Stone and Jackson.
Behind them, the room is much less established. Halton and Williams are gone, and Markus Strong, who played over 100 snaps last season, transferred to Clemson in January.
That leaves Trent Wilson and Nigel Smith II, both of whom drew repeated praise during spring ball. Coaches and teammates said they’re expected to play major roles in the fall, even though both saw only limited action last year, mostly in lopsided games.
Oklahoma also added Bishop Thomas from the transfer portal. He arrives after stops at Florida State, Colorado and Georgia State, making OU his fourth school. His best college season came in 2025 at Georgia State, where he posted 48 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
After the spring game on April 18, a game Thomas did not play in, Brent Venables praised what he’s seen from the veteran transfer.
"Bishop, when the ball’s snapped, he knows how to play d-tackle," Venables said. "He plays with incredible effort. The thing that was most attractive to me is Bishop makes a lot of plays several yards away from where the ball’s snapped."
Venables believes Wilson, Smith and Thomas can handle whatever is asked of them. Still, the deeper Oklahoma gets at defensive tackle, the more the lack of experience becomes the one thing that stands out.
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Oklahomas Offensive Line Faces Its Biggest Test Since The 2024 Mess
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Now the Sooners have to answer their biggest personnel question of the offseason without one of the units most dependable voices. Febechi Nwaiwu is gone, and with him goes a veteran presence Venables viewed as part of the lines leadership backbone, leaving Oklahoma to sort out which returning blocker can fill that glue-guy role as the 2026 season approaches. [Read more 🡒]