Thoughts on Damonic Wiliams transferring to the Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners landed some much-needed help last week for their defensive line in the form of coveted TCU transfer Damonic Williams.
The scarcity of quality defensive tackles in the personnel market turned the pursuit of Williams into one of the headline stories in college football in recent weeks. Texas, Missouri and LSU joined the Sooners in pitching the former Horned Frog. If nothing else, OU winning a high-profile battle should ease some supporters’ concerns after watching the program take a few stinging losses in the era of college football free agency.
In addition to what Williams can bring to the OU defense this fall, the process of securing his services merits some discussion as well.
First, the on-field stuff. The topline here is that defensive tackle was a major position of need for the Sooners, and they got more than just a body to address it.
Following the spring game, head coach Brent Venables didn’t mince words about OU’s depth issues on the interior of the defensive line. He and DL coach Todd Bates took over a rough situation up front in 2022 and made the best of it for two seasons, but attrition had taken a toll on the unit. A total of six DTs have transferred out of the program in the last three seasons, some of whom didn’t even make it a year on campus. Meanwhile, three scholarship DTs on the 2023 squad graduated – all of whom played at least 280 snaps last year.
Jacob Lacey’s medical retirement earlier this year made the need for an interior addition especially acute, though. No one would mistake Lacey for Aaron Donald, but he played the most snaps of any DT on the team a year ago. Absent at least one more transfer, the Sooners would be rolling into their first season in SEC play with just two experienced DTs in Da’Jon Terry and Gracen Halton.
Landing DL Jermayne Lole from Louisville after the Red-White Game ensured OU would get at least one replacement-caliber player to add to the mix as a three-tech DT. But Williams was in high demand for a reason. Per PFF, he played a total of 1,088 snaps in two seasons at TCU, starting as a freshman on the team that played for a national championship in 2022. Moreover, at 6-2 and 320 pounds, he has shown the versatility to slide between nose tackle and three-tech when called upon. Williams even spent some time as a 4i defensive end in TCU’s three-down alignments.
Additionally, with Williams in the mix, Bates no longer has to lean on promising freshmen Jayden Jackson and David Stone for more than a handful of snaps per game. Instead of pressing them into service by necessity, they can earn their way on the field.
Does Williams’ presence mean more wins for OU in 2024? It can’t hurt.
If anything, inserting Williams and Lole into the rotation on the DL sets a more solid floor on the outlook for the defense. Had Venables and Bates stood pat without dipping into the portal, it’s easy to see opponents running wild between the tackles, especially as the season wore on. The spillover effects of losing one contributor when a D is thin in the trenches can be massive, given the resources required to rotate bodies up front. That’s how you lose to teams like South Carolina, not just Alabama and LSU.
As for what brought Williams to OU, I don’t have any special insider knowledge of what went into his recruitment or what made the difference in his decision. I don’t doubt that he commanded a healthy NIL deal from the Sooners and the other suitors. But with no transparency to speak of with these contracts, I tend to approach most of the “reporting” about the dollar figures involved in these pay-for-play packages with a healthy dose of skepticism. The salt grains are even bigger when estimates are coming from people whose sources are within the programs that lost out on the player.
I’ve written before about the legitimate pitfalls of going buck wild in free agency. Without the ability to analyze trustworthy data on Williams’ deal, the going rates for players of his caliber on the transfer market or the NIL resources at OU’s disposal, it seems pointless to evaluate the end result here through that prism. You can certainly point to some factors in this case that would justify a reasonable premium, though.
In this transfer cycle, Williams is the top player with experience at a position that can separate great teams from good ones. Venables, Bates and the other evaluators on the OU staff don’t have to project what he will look like against quality competition: They have film of Williams playing nearly 1,100 snaps in two seasons at TCU.
Moreover, OU is taking on Williams in a “contract year.” If he excels this season, he can put his name into the NFL draft as an early entrant in 2025. The checks at that level are much bigger. That should allay any theoretical concerns about his motivation after landing a solid payday from OU.
And regarding potential chemistry issues that may arise, the OU front office can point to a tangible track record of production to explain Williams’ compensation package. In other words, they’re not paying on spec for a player who may or may not develop into a viable left tackle. Players who get salty about how much money Williams is making this season can – and hopefully will – raise their own level of play to command a pay hike next year.
Again, the price tag makes a big difference in how we might judge the wisdom of adding Williams to the roster. On the whole, however, you can see a parallel between OU’s pursuit of Williams this year and how the Sooners approached Stanford transfer Walter Rouse 12 months ago. That worked out well for both sides of the equation. Let’s hope for the same result here.