“Watched the Nico Netflix documentary”: CFB fans react as Oklahoma DL David Stone withdraws from the NCAA transfer portal

The Oklahoma defensive lineman David Stone, who was a Five-Star Plus+ recruit from the 2024 class, entered the transfer portal on Apr. 19, 2025, and has now made a decision to stay with the Sooners.

It was announced on Sunday that Stone has withdrawn from the NCAA transfer portal and will continue his education and career with Brent Venables' program.

Announcing his decision on X (previously Twitter), Stone shared that after taking the necessary time & examining his options, he has removed his name from the portal. He further wrote that he was born a Sooner and will die a Sooner, making his decision extremely clear.

Reacting to this, some fans assumed that Stone learned from Nico Iamaleava's Tennessee situation, while others assumed he got what he wanted from the program.

"Apparently at least one smart player already watched the Nico Netflix documentary," one fan wrote. "You think he realized he couldn’t go to another SEC school without sitting out a year or did the agent do it to get more money?" another fan raised some questions. "What is completely different and we can’t ever get comfortable with is there is no real allegiance towards a program and coaches don’t matter. Who pays the most is the game and that can happen at any moment. Don’t blame the players, but recruiting isn’t even interesting anymore," another fan expressed their frustration on the state of college football.

More fans used sarcasm to express their thoughts on the situation as David Stone returns to the Sooners with three years of eiligibility remaining.

David Stone opens up about his journey at Oklahoma

The sophomore defensive tackle arrived in Norman last spring and is projected to play an important role in the Sooners' interior defensive strategies.

Discussing how much he has grown as a player at Oklahoma, Stone told the media after a spring practice that he feels like himself and also expressed pride in how he dominated a lot of the team workouts.

David Stone also mentioned how he used to struggle with his body language because of stuff happening in his life outside of football, but he has now learnt how to compartmentalize things in his life and not let them affect each other.

The Sooners will kickoff the 2025 college football season against the Illinois State Redbirds on Aug. 30.

Edited by Nadim El Kak