Sooner Football Profile: Getting to Know Devante Bond

Devante Bond was a name heard often when Oklahoma was on defense last weekend at Tennessee. That was because he made some very big plays on defense in the Sooners’ refuse-to-lose 31-27 win over the 23rd-ranked Volunteers in one of the most hostile visiting environments in all of college football.

The senior junior-college-transfer from Sacramento, Calif., got his first start of the season, at outside linebacker, at Tennessee, and he took full advantage of the opportunity.

In the second quarter of the Tennessee game, Bond broke through the Volunteers’ offensive protection and got all the way the quarterback Joshua Dobbs, recording his first career sack as a Sooner and forcing a fumble on the same play. Unfortunately for the OU defense, Tennessee was able to recover Dobbs’ fumble. But that was just one of several occasions in the game when the Tennessee quarterback was forced to scramble because of pressure being applied by the on-rushing Bond.

Oct 11, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners safety Devante Bond (23) on the sidelines against the Texas Longhorns during the Red River showdown at the Cotton Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Bond ended the Tennessee game with five tackles, a quarterback hurry and two sacks for a combined loss of 18 yards.

Listed at 6-1, 238 pounds in this year’s Oklahoma football media guide, Bond is in his final season at OU, but that is not where he thought he would wind up his college career after completing two seasons of JUCO ball at Sierra Community College near his hometown of Sacramento. He had committed out of the JUCO ranks to play for the University of Miami prior to the 2013 season, but he found out shortly after committing to the Hurricanes that he was one class shy of fulfilling his academic requirement for eligibility.

Because of that, Bond was forced to sit out the full 2013 season. Miami’s loss turned out to be Oklahoma’s gain because the Northern California native re-opened his recruitment and, in 2014, after completing his academic requirements, he ended up walking away from Miami and choosing Oklahoma over Nebraska.

“Sitting out the season is really rough, because you’re working out on your own” Bond told Oklahoma City Oklahoman sports writer Jason Kersey in an interview late last season. “It’s hard to keep up with everything, your school work [sic]. I knew I had to keep the bar high.”

It was a difficult transition, at first, to major college football. Not only was the level of competition greater but the system he was learning at Oklahoma was a lot more complex that he had previously experienced. He also has not been playing football as long as many of his teammates. His senior year of high school was his first real time playing the sport.

“The whole defensive schemes here…just knowing when to drop, when to rush. That was new for me,” Bond said in the Oklahoman interview, referring to his first few months at OU last fall.

Bond was used almost exclusively as a pass rusher in junior college, but at Oklahoma, he is asked to do more at the linebacker position.

Bond saw limited game action for the first two-thirds of his junior season at OU. His first break came when senior Geneo Grissom, who is now in the NFL, injured his knee in the Texas Tech game late last season. Bond filled in for Grissom in the next game and finished the season for the Sooners at the outside linebacker spot. He blocked a kick in the Russell Athletic Bowl against Clemson.

Get used to it. You are going to be hearing Devante Bond’s name a lot more this season. And that is an extremely good thing for the Sooners.