Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone is likely going to miss a good chunk of the 2026-27 college football season with an injury, if not the entire season. It is unclear whether or not he was playing offense during practice.
One report says one thing, the school says another.
Regardless of how Stone suffered his injury, it changes the entire outlook for the Sooners. They lost one of the top defensive players in college football at a crucial point of the season.
David Stone could miss the entire college football season with a lower body injury.
A former five-star recruit, David Stone committed to the University of Oklahoma as the No. 17 overall player in the Class of 2024. He was utterly dominant in 2025. The 6-foot-3, 312-pound defensive lineman recorded 43 total tackles as a sophomore.
His junior year was off to just as strong of a start. Stone made 12 total tackles through the first three games of 2026 with eight tackles (two for loss) against New Mexico on Saturday. And when he is not making the play himself, his menacing presence on the interior creates opportunities for the guys around him. Opponents have to game plan around him.
Given how horrible the Sooners have played on offense over the last three weeks, their only hope of making it to the College Football Playoff is through a stifling defense. Stone is crucial to that success.
Unfortunately, it sounds like Oklahoma will be without him for an extended period of time — if not for the entire season. George Stoia of SoonerScoop.com was the first to report that Stone suffered an injury during practice on Monday.
The severity of the lower-body injury remains unclear but the outlook is grim. There is not a lot of optimism in Norman. Stone will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. Further testing will provide a better understanding of the severity.
Oklahoma refutes reports about offense.
Not long after Stoia broke the news of David Stone’s injury, Carson Field and John E. Hoover reported that it happened on offense. The Sooners supposedly used its star defensive lineman in a goal line package during practice.
Oklahoma say otherwise. A representative of the program later said that Stone’s injury did not happen while playing offense.
Parker Thune of SoonerScoop.com also came out against Hoover and Field’s report. Stoia says it is “not something he has heard.”
Although is not uncommon for college football teams to put their largest defensive lineman in a fullback-like position in a goal line package, the Sooners have struggled to even get to the goal line this season. And most teams do not go full-speed with this specific package during practice so not to risk an injury to a crucial defensive player.
However, Oklahoma claims it did not use Stone on offense at all. Head coach Brent Venables is likely going to address what happened during his next press conference. Stay tuned for updates.