Brent Venables added some depth in the trenches on Thursday, landing Western Carolina transfer offensive lineman Derek Simmons. The 6-foot-6, 325-pounder will have just one year of eligibility in Norman.

The Sooners will be Simmons’ fourth school after transferring from Tusculum to Abilene Christian and finally Western Carolina. He suffered a torn ACL as midway through the 2023 season and came back to start nine games this season at left tackle.

Simmons is the second offensive lineman the Sooners have snagged from the portal, Stanford tackle Luke Baklenko committed earlier this week.

Simmons should challenge to start at one of the tackle spots next season. He checks in at No. 4 among offensive lineman in the Rivals Portal rankings.

Stay locked in on the Rivals Transfer Tracker to keep up with the latest transfer news, portal entries, commitments, and rankings. For a deep-dive into the transfer portal, make sure you visit the Rivals Transfer Search page.

The Rivals Transfer Portal X account is a must-follow for any college football fan.

The winter college football transfer portal window is scheduled to open on December 9th, 2024 for 20 days. Additionally, players have a 30-day window to transfer when their head coach leaves. There is also a five-day window for players to transfer after their team has finished postseason play. A 10-day transfer window will open on April 16th as well.