There is a fine line between love and hate.
Damonic Williams and Branson Hickman have proved that over the past three months.
“We just hated each other,” Williams said, glancing at Hickman across from him after OU football practice.
Over the last two years, Williams, who played on the defensive line for TCU during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and Hickman, who played center at SMU from 2020-23, would make the annual 40-mile trip to play at one of their respective home stadiums. There, it was evident that in the ways that Oklahoma has Texas, TCU and SMU have each other, and the century-old feud stood prevalent in both players’ lives.
The linemen had grown accustomed to being in close proximity, but the cross-city road trip was fueled by the passions of a position battle and the ramifications of rivalry.
Now, almost everything has changed.
Before getting picked up in the transfer portal, the two players faced each other once a year in Fort Worth or Dallas. Since arriving in Norman, they are constantly meeting in the middle.
“I am just glad we are on the same team now,” Williams said. “We are both here and getting to go against each other in practice every single day.”
Despite Williams and Hickman deciding to leave TCU and SMU in the offseason, their individual decisions to come to Oklahoma reflect who they are, as people and players.
As Williams, who grew up in Torrance, California, and committed to TCU in high school, walked into Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on the day after Thanksgiving last year, he felt immediately drawn to the university.
Williams ignored the appeal, for the time being, and focused on his team’s last game of the regular season. Despite TCU’s year-long struggles and 69-45 loss to OU later that day, the 6-foot-2, 320-pound defensive tackle stayed focused on his role, reflecting on the team’s previous trip to the College Football Playoff Championship.
But after deciding to transfer in April, the No. 10-ranked defensive lineman in the portal, according to his 247Sports composite ranking profile, reflected on his trip to Norman earlier in the fall.
“I remember when I was at TCU and playing against OU, this just felt like the right place to come to,” Williams said. “On my first official visit here, my mom was like, ‘Either you’re going, and I am going with you, or I am just going to go by myself.’ So, that was already a deciding factor. What drew my mom here was the family-oriented environment, and for me, it was the same thing, but it was also what I could do in this defense.”
TCU ended the year 5-7, tying its lowest record since finishing 4-8 in 2013, but Williams was coming off his best collegiate season yet. After tallying 33 tackles, five tackles for a loss and three sacks, he earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention and honorable mention Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year.
During his two seasons with the Horned Frogs, he had 60 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks and one forced fumble. He also received True Freshman All-American honors in 2022.
Now, Williams joins an OU defense ranked No. 31 in rushing, just behind Texas and Iowa State in the Big 12, but one that struggled in pass defense, ranking 109 nationally by allowing opponents to throw an average of 250.8 yards per game.
However, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables has already seen the impact that the new defensive addition can have on the line heading into a new season in the SEC.
"He likes to work, and likes to compete," Venables said. "Dom's done really nice, he's fit in well. I think the number one reason he's fit in well is because he's had humility and respect for the work and respect for the guys around him. He's come here in great shape, and he's worked really hard all summer. He's not on a ventilator trying to learn what we want him to do, both scheme-wise and fundamentally."
Williams’ feelings toward Venables are mutual, and although he knew the difficulties of starting over and having to build relationships with his teammates and coaches from scratch, he is excited to do it in the place that beckoned him just nine months prior.
“It has been amazing,” Williams said about working with Venables. “Out of all the head coaches I’ve met, he is most definitely the best one. He is just such a hands-on coach, and not a CEO-minded head coach where they are just watching practice. He is in practice, he is chewing people out for doing the wrong thing.
“There is just something I love about this place.”
There is something Hickman loves about it too, and his admiration for the university and the program was sparked in the same place — Oklahoma’s stadium.
As he walked through the tunnel before the kickoff of the second game of the 2023 season, he looked up, seeing the waves of crimson, and there it hit him.
“Wow, this is big time, this is real college football right here,” Hickman said when reflecting on the moment.
The decision to transfer was not an easy one. After spending four years at SMU, a school just 25 minutes from his hometown in McKinney, Texas, entering the portal meant leaving the relationships built and the time spent there behind.
But the opportunity to work with OU’s offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and the idea of building back up a group that added five transfers in the offseason was compelling enough for the center.
“Coach Bedenbaugh is one of the main reasons why I came here,” Hickman said. “He has a proven track record. He puts guys in the NFL and has guys succeed in college, so it is like why would you not come play for Coach B.”
Hickman, who is 6-foot-2 and 301 pounds, was ranked 12th on 247Sports’ interior offensive lineman transfer list. Since 2022, he has had 1,079 pass-block snaps, an 81.7 run-block grade and allowed just one sack and two quarterback hits.
Not only is the center one of the most talented players at that position in all of college football, but he is also a veteran who offers experience, knowledge and leadership to the offensive line.
"Branson, again, he's been a leader for a long time," Venables said "He's going to bring a wealth of ability and fundamentals and technique, and he's an incredibly bright guy. He's already graduated, but the level of intelligence that he'll bring to the table has helped him with the transition.”
Although Hickman could not imagine that he would be playing in the stadium that left him in awe a year ago, he has used this opportunity to challenge himself and others around him.
“It is not easy,” Hickman said of the challenge of integrating so many new faces on OU’s offensive line. “But nobody said it was going to be easy, and it helps going through summer together. We were put in a great position to work really hard and get together…The biggest thing is being around each other outside of the facility and building those bonds.”
For Hickman, forming relationships extends beyond the offensive line and even to his former rival, Damonic Williams.
After transferring, both have made time to reconnect with the rivalry now behind them, and each has hopes to improve their respective offensive and defensive lines ahead of their first seasons with Oklahoma.
“Me and Dom didn’t like each other much back in the day,” Hickman said with a smile on his face. “But we built a pretty good relationship over the summer, and it is good to go against a familiar face every day who is also a really good player.”
Now, as the two face each other across the line of scrimmage, their desire to compete and win is the same as it was a season ago. However, they are no longer working toward an individual goal, and instead, have found a common one.
Proving everyone wrong.
“All of those doubts about our o-line, y’all can just stop that,” Williams said. “I am telling you, this defense and this offense are going to be something surprising.”
This story was edited by Louis Raser. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
