OU’s defensive line is one of its most experienced position groups heading into the 2026 season.
Despite losing former Sooners Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton, Marvin Jones Jr. and R Mason Thomas to the NFL, the Sooners retained three of their most productive players on the defensive frontline. Junior Jayden Jackson, redshirt junior Taylor Wein and junior David Stone headline the group of players who will be battling it out in the trenches.
Stone is the most productive returner for OU, registering 43 total tackles, 16 solo, 1.5 sacks, and one pass deflection last season; marking him as OU’s No. 7 overall defensive player in total tackles in 2025 and the No. 1 overall defensive linemen in that category, ahead of players like Halton and Thomas. The Del City, Oklahoma native had a breakout season after registering just six total tackles in the 2024 season.
“David Stone, who's a very highly recruited guy coming out of high school, is the top guy in the country,” head coach Brent Venables said at SEC Media Days. “(Many people) proclaimed him or wrote stories about (how) he might be a bust and things of that nature. He didn't listen to any of that. He just put his head down and worked and had an outstanding sophomore year.”
Wein also had a breakout season in 2025, posting the second-most tackles among defensive linemen with 39 total tackles, 22 solo, 7 sacks, one pass deflection, one interception and a forced fumble. Similar to Stone, Wein's 2024 season saw very little production with just two tackles on the year, but he elevated his game in 2025 to become an all-SEC second-team player and one of the most formidable players in the box.
“Taylor Wein's … one of the lowest paid guys on our roster, a guy that we offered his senior year in high school in the playoffs, …” Venables said about Wein’s standing before 2025. “All Taylor did was become an all-SEC player (and) lead our team. … And so I say that just to remind, certainly myself, but everybody, that every year there's a new storyline when it comes to players emerging, players coming out of nowhere.”
The last key returner for OU is Jayden Jackson, who has been a steady force over the last two seasons. His 2025 stats include 28 total tackles, 12 solo and three sacks, which almost mirrors 2024, when he had 30 total tackles, 10 solo and two sacks.
Jackson’s high usage in both of OU’s previous Southeastern Conference seasons give him the experience needed to be one of the leaders both on and off the field for OU’s freshmen class, which features four-star edge Jake Kreul and three-star defensive lineman James Carrington.
“This is a line of scrimmage league. Make no mistake about it. The margins are incredibly small,” Venables said. “I would argue that if you lose the line of scrimmage in any particular game, most of the time, you're going to lose the game. It's not by if you're going to lose; it's by how much you're going to lose. So that's where it starts for us. It's not only a mentality. You recruit to that. You nurture that.”
This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel. Tori Pham and Kennedy Johnson copy edited this story.
