Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, early in his weekly press conference on Tuesday, took time to make it clear how exactly starting defensive tackle David Stone suffered an injury that was reported just the night before.
Stone injured his knee during Monday's practice, and that was confirmed, but it was also reported that Stone suffered the injury while practicing a goal-line package with the offense. That news infuriated OU fans, as the fan base has already been questioning Venables' practices because of how many injuries the Sooners keep dealing with.
"David Stone, I know it was reported that he was hurt last night at practice. He wasn't on offense," Venables said. "I guess that was out there; he was on offense. But he wasn't on offense when he got banged up. He ran his knee into a scout team player during a jog through, and kinda popped out."
With that, Venables likely would never admit that one of his defensive stars was actually injured while playing offense, but it also feels like it's probably the truth since he confronted the report head-on instead of avoiding it. Regardless, OU fans still have a lengthy injury list as a reason to question what goes on during OU's practices.
Injured in practice this year:
— The Main Line (@TheMainLinePod) September 22, 2026
1. David Stone
2. Michael Fasusi
3. Ryan Fodje
4. Jake Maikula
5. Jonathan Hatton
6. Parker Livingstone
7. Cole Sullivan
8. Danny Okoye
9. Noah Best
10. Tory Blaylock
Injured in a game:
1. Kip Lewis
2. Trell Harris
Brent Venables sounds optimistic in David Stone injury update
No matter what, the most important update is that Venables actually sounded optimistic about Stone's injury. Sooners On SI reported on Monday night that he dislocated his left knee and could miss the rest of the season.
Venables, though, said X-rays were "positive" and even mentioned that Stone told him his pain level was at a two on a 1-10 scale. Even after that, a reporter during a question mentioned that it was unknown how long Stone would be out, and Venables quipped, "If at all."
We won't actually know Stone's true status until the first availability report comes out on Wednesday evening, then every day after that until the Sooners kick off against Georgia at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday. Thankfully, we have the availability report again with SEC play back instead of being left in the dark and reliant on random reports.
If there's no gamesmanship involved and Venables really is serious about Stone not missing any time, that would be undeniably massive for the Sooners against Georgia. There's no question their defense is their only hope in upsetting the Bulldogs, so they need it at its best, especially with starting linebacker Kip Lewis also already injured.
This has been Stone's first season as a full-time starter, and he's coming off his best game yet as a Sooner. He tied for the team high with eight tackles against New Mexico, as well as two tackles for loss (also a team high) and a half sack. That brought his season total to 12 tackles in three games.
If Stone is sidelined, it's really unknown who will actually fill in between four realistic options. It will likely be between Georgia State transfer Bishop Thomas, Trent Wilson or Nigel Smith II. Theres' also Braxton Fely, who was just added to the roster from Boise State the night before the season started.
There's obviously still a lot of unknown surrounding Stone's injury, but there does seem to be reason to be optimistic during a time Sooner Nation is desperate for hope.
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