Big Board – Defensive Lineman

<em><strong>Get 25% off your subscription by entering Knight25 in the coupon code area. Enjoy!</strong></em> It’s officially April and with the NFL Draft later this month, mock drafts and Big Boards are all you’ll hear about if you’re a football fan. We’re leaning into that with Big Boards. Every Thursday and Friday, we’ll release a new Big Board, ranking the top ten players at their position, regardless of class. Now, similar to our prospect rankings, these rankings are based on who these players are as college prospects. Stay tuned each week for two more Big Boards, ranking and looking at the absolute best players at their respective positions. Coming up on Friday, we’ll look at the top ten quarterbacks in Oklahoma. Today, we kick things off with a very strong position group, the defensive line. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>1) [player_tooltip player_id="38674" first="Chris" last="McClellan"] - 2022 - Owasso</strong></span> If you’ve been following the recruiting news this offseason, this should be no surprise as Owasso defensive tackle [player_tooltip player_id="38674" first="Chris" last="McClellan"] is the runaway leader when it comes to this position group. McClellan currently holds 30 D1 offers and that list is continuing to grow. McClellan had a breakout season with Edison as a sophomore and has only continued to get bigger, faster and stronger. McClellan had another strong year last season, with well over 10 sacks. In January, McClellan transferred from Edison to Owasso and that was just the start of an outstanding offseason for the Owasso big man. McClellan has turned himself into one of the more dominant players in the state and he’s expecting to be one of the best overall players in Oklahoma this fall. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>2) [player_tooltip player_id="61127" first="Desean" last="Brown"] - 2022 - Choctaw</strong></span> You won’t find a more disruptive interior lineman other than Owasso’s McClellan. But if you move to the outside, you won’t find a more disruptive defensive end than Choctaw’s [player_tooltip player_id="61127" first="Desean" last="Brown"]. Before we talk about everything we love about his game, we’ll say this. We’re very interested to see how he does without 2021 DE [player_tooltip player_id="38572" first="Donnie" last="Wingate"] on the other side of the line. We believe he’ll be just fine but it’s something to watch. Now, Brown was lights out for the Yellowjackets last season and the last time we saw him in person, he was terrorizing Bixby quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="38531" first="Mason" last="Williams"] into making uncharacteristic mistakes. Brown has established himself not only as one of the best at his position but he’s one of the best in the state, regardless of position. This fall could be very special for the Choctaw standout. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>3) [player_tooltip player_id="101400" first="Jaleel" last="Johnson"] - 2022 - Putnam City North</strong></span> The difference between the number 3 prospect on this Big Board and the number 4 prospect is minimal. Really, it came down to Putnam City North’s [player_tooltip player_id="101400" first="Jaleel" last="Johnson"] getting more playing time and having more tape to evaluate in 2020. As opposed to our first two prospects, Chris McClelland and [player_tooltip player_id="61127" first="Desean" last="Brown"], not very much was known about PC North’s [player_tooltip player_id="101400" first="Jaleel" last="Johnson"] coming into the 2020 season. The Panthers had a great blend of senior and underclassmen talent and it showed as they got out to a great start in 2020. Johnson emerged as a breakout star for the Panthers on the defensive side of the ball and had an excellent junior season. Johnson’s recruitment has blown up recently as well as he’s coming off a week last week where he picked up four offers from Power Five programs. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>4) [player_tooltip player_id="38691" first="Maliek" last="Bogard"] - 2022 - Beggs</strong></span> This ranking might need a little explaining because you might not know the name [player_tooltip player_id="38691" first="Maliek" last="Bogard"] unless you’ve been following recruiting over the last few months. [player_tooltip player_id="38691" first="Maliek" last="Bogard"] came to Oklahoma last offseason from the Kansas City area, where he was absolutely dominant as a sophomore defensive end up there. He moved to Oklahoma and landed in Okmulgee to be near family. After a knee injury limited Bogard during his junior season, Bogard hasn’t shown a lot of his ability while here in Oklahoma. Bogard recently transferred from Okmulgee to Beggs where he expects to fit right in on a team full of outstanding athletes. So this ranking might be considered a little too high considering he missed a lot of his junior season but we’re not going to knock Bogard because he had an injury. We’ve seen the production and he’s the real deal. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>5) [player_tooltip player_id="61142" first="Shamaur" last="Edwards"] - 2022 - Midwest City</strong></span> One of the absolute breakout stars from last year’s 2020 season was Midwest City’s [player_tooltip player_id="61142" first="Shamaur" last="Edwards"]. The Bomber big man was outstanding as Midwest City made a run all the way to the 6A-D2 semifinals. Edwards plays with a lot of versatility and can be moved around a lot on the defensive side of the ball. In fact, that’s how we saw Edwards when we saw him in person last season. However, when it comes to how he projects to the next level, we can’t help but feel he’ll be at his best when he’s closer to the line of scrimmage, as opposed to lining up some at the linebacker spot. Edwards is big and has some athleticism that other lineman can’t match. Edwards finished his junior season with over ten sacks and he should be a big name to watch and have even more production in 2021. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>6) [player_tooltip player_id="57208" first="De’Marion" last="Thomas"] - 2023 - Union</strong></span> When it comes to the defensive line, you have defensive ends and defensive tackles. This list is primarily defensive ends. In fact, only three of the ten prospects are defensive tackles. Union’s [player_tooltip player_id="57208" first="De’Marion" last="Thomas"] is the only 2023 defensive tackle prospect to find himself on this Big Board. Thomas is so disruptive and has a chance to be in the conversation with former Union standout Jordan Kelley as one of the better defensive lineman to come out of Union in the last five years. The first thing that is obvious when you look at Thomas is just that. He passes the eye test as he looks like an absolute monster out there on the field. As he continues to improve his speed and quickness, to go along with his size and strength, he’s going to be a dangerous prospect that will fly up the rankings. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>7) [player_tooltip player_id="110735" first="David" last="Stone"] - 2024 - Del City</strong></span> Over the next few weeks, you won’t see too many, if any, 2024 prospects make it on to the weekly Big Boards but we couldn’t deny Del City’s [player_tooltip player_id="110735" first="David" last="Stone"]. The young Del City standout already looks the part and still has three more years of high school ball to play. Stone was able to break into the Del City lineup on a defensive unit that was loaded with future D1 talent. Not only did Stone play along with those guys, he held his own and looked the part. Stone has a goal of becoming the best player to come out of Del City and it’s apparent that he will have a legitimate shot at doing just that when it’s all said and done. Stone picked up his first D1 offers in late January and has received a ton of interest from P5 programs all across the country. Stone is just getting started but the sky is the limit. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>8) [player_tooltip player_id="38697" first="AJ" last="Brown"] - 2022 - Jenks</strong></span> This is a perfect example of how timing works in recruiting breakdowns or recruiting in general. Jenks defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="38697" first="AJ" last="Brown"] comes in at #8 and if this ranking was released last week, he wouldn’t have been in the top ten. However, I got an opportunity to see Brown up close and personal over the weekend at the USNFT Combine in Dallas and he was impressive. You combine his performance over the weekend with some impressive tape from his junior season and it was hard to deny Brown a spot on this list. The Jenks lineman is a unique blend of strength and speed. He isn’t the biggest interior lineman that you’ll see on this list but he’s still one of the stronger guys, despite not being as big. And his speed and quick step is what makes him so lethal at the point of attack. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>9) [player_tooltip player_id="57157" first="Jaedon" last="Foreman"] - 2023 - Del City</strong></span> The second of two Del City prospects on this Big Board is 2023 defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="57157" first="Jaedon" last="Foreman"]. Think about the talent that was on that Del City defensive line last year. You had Foreman and Stone, the two young guns for the Eagles. You also had [player_tooltip player_id="38507" first="Kevin" last="Greene"], who was one of the top 2021 defensive lineman prospects and signed with North Texas. Things were actually crowded up front for the Eagles. Now that Greene is graduating, Stone and Foreman both have more freedom to move around and be used in different ways in 2021. Foreman has a lot of athletic tools that you want in a defensive lineman. He burst onto the scene at this time last year with a strong offseason. But it’s also no secret that Del City struggled in 2020 and Foreman’s recruiting momentum might have suffered because of it. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>10) [player_tooltip player_id="38722" first="David" last="Rowaiye"] - 2022 - Southeast</strong></span> This evaluation is one of the toughest on the Big Board because there just isn’t a lot known about Southeast defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="38722" first="David" last="Rowaiye"]. Southeast isn’t exactly a hotbed of football talent and on the football field over the last several years, they’ve struggled. Because of that, guys can fly under the radar and that’s exactly what we’ve seen from [player_tooltip player_id="38722" first="David" last="Rowaiye"]. The first we heard about Rowaiye was earlier in this offseason, on a Friday night when Rowaiye announced on Twitter that Baylor had offered. All of a sudden, a guy had flown so under the radar and then emerged with a Power Five offer. Then you look at what he could be at the next level and he’s earned his spot on this list. He has a strong frame and an impressive motor and now Rowaiye is in the conversation with some of the best linemen in this class.