Top 20 NFL Sooners, No. 8: Davin Joseph

After switching positions twice at OU, he became a Pro Bowl guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In the past 20 years, the Oklahoma Sooners have experienced arguably their most productive era ever in the NFL Draft.

From the 2000 to 2019 drafts — the entirety of the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley years — OU has had 95 players drafted.

Using today’s 7-round comparison, that’s more than any other two-decade era in school history. In the 1970s and ‘80s, OU had 131 players drafted, but only 88 were selected in the first seven rounds.

In the last 20 years, the Sooners have produced some historically good players. Every day leading up to this year’s NFL Draft (April 23-25), SI Sooners presents the Top 20 NFL Sooners of the last 20 years.

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Davin Joseph

The son of a Haitian immigrant and blue collar workers in South Florida, Davin Joseph only ever knew hard work.

That’s why he was able to switch from being an All-Big 12 right guard as a junior to an All-Big 12 left tackle as a senior.

It’s also why he played nine seasons in the National Football League — eight with Tampa Bay, one with St. Louis — and made two Pro Bowls.

Joseph, who retired after the 2014 season, was an immediate starter for the Buccaneers in 2006 when he was drafted in the first round (No. 23 overall) by Bucs coach Jon Gruden.

Gruden noticed that Joseph had elite character, elite work ethic and elite talent, so drafting him was easy — just like it was when Mark Mangino recruited Joseph out of Hallandale High School in Hollywood, Florida.

Davin Joseph in Tampa Bay

The 6-foot-3, 306-pound Joseph came to Oklahoma as a defensive lineman, but moved to offense during his first preseason training camp.

As a true freshman in 2002, he was named All-Big 12 Freshman by Sporting News. He played in 12 of OU’s 13 games that season, but he got his first start against Colorado in the Big 12 Championship Game, then started against Washington in the Rose Bowl.

In 2003, Joseph started 12 games at right guard between center Vince Carter and tackle Jammal Brown, and they built a formidable wall for one of the most prolific offenses in college football history.

Joseph earned All-Big 12 accolades at right guard in 2004 as OU’s offense morphed from a spread offense that featured Heisman winner Jason White to pro-style offense that featured Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson. According to then-line coach Kevin Wilson, Joseph missed only three assignments all season as the Sooners returned to the national championship game.

An overhaul on the offensive line and across the entire offense forced Joseph to switch to left tackle in 2005 as the Sooners won just eight games, but he still earned first-team All-Big 12 honors.

In nine years in the NFL, Joseph was assessed just 30 penalties, among the lower rates in the NFL.

Joseph played in just one NFL playoff game (2007), but he remained among Tampa Bay’s most popular players throughout his career.

He launched the Davin Joseph Events for Cause Foundation, aka Davin’s Dream Team, and developed a huge presence with United Way, recruiting almost 4,000 volunteers through the NFL’s Live United campaign. Joseph also took part in USO Tours in Afghanistan.

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Our Top 20 list was chosen by five voters: SI Sooners publisher John Hoover, deputy editor Parker Thune, long-time OU fan and amateur Sooner historian Anthony Jumper, OU school of journalism student Caroline Grace, and OU history and stats expert Steven Smith (aka Blinkin Riley).

The criteria was simple: former Sooners who played at OU during the last 20 years and went on to an NFL career. The rest, i.e, their NFL career, was purely subjective. Players received 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for second, etc., down to 1 point for 20th. A total of 28 players received votes.

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