D.J. Ward: DE · Oklahoma · #87.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
D.J. Ward
Wins the corner before the tackle can set. Played for two head coaches in two seasons at Oklahoma. One game to point at: 4 tackles against Ohio State — Week 2, 2017.
Play style
Bends the edge and wins with first-step quickness. Lighter frame, relentless motor.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
31 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 7.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth Nov 3
On3 Oct 29
ABC News Oct 28Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2017 season · 10 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 31-16@ No. 2 Ohio State | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 56-14vs Tulane | 3 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 49-41@ Baylor | 4 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 6 | L 31-38vs Iowa State | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 29-24vs Texas | 5 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 5 tackles |
| Wk 9 | W 49-27vs Texas Tech | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 62-52@ No. 11 Oklahoma State | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 41-3@ Kansas | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 14 | W 41-17vs No. 10 TCU | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 48-54vs No. 3 Georgia | 2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 20 | 7.5 | 4.5 | — | 1 |
Week 7 · 2017
W 29-24
vs Texas · neutral site
1 sack · 2 tackles for loss · 5 tackles
A close one, won by 5 at a neutral site.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Sack rate
15%4 sacksTFL rate
24%8 TFLHurry rate
0%0 hurriesPressure-to-sack conversion
100%4 of 4 pressures31 tackles · 7.5 for loss · 4.5 sacks.
Splits · Per-game
2017 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+4g | 2.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Lincoln Riley
Pass share
44.9%
433 pass / 531 run
Plays / game
68.9
14 games
Team sack rate
5.6%
464 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2017
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive lineman who plays every week.
How it ended
Two seasons at Oklahoma, 6 sacks — the college career is complete.
Coaching lineage · 2013–2017
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Bob Stoops → Lincoln Riley. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
