The 2022 season was an up-and-down season for [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag]. At moments he flashed some really impressive stuff, but he struggled on some of the simpler things.
In particular, the Sooners struggled on third and fourth down and in the red zone. He was good in 2022, but every throw gets magnified when you’re at the University of Oklahoma.
Was Gabriel a bad quarterback last year? No. He was still arguably the second-best quarterback in the conference. Bedlam is an example of the up-and-down nature of Gabriel’s play a year ago. He was really good early in the game but struggled late to keep Oklahoma’s offense moving.
He needs to improve in the short to intermediate passing game. However, he threw for 3,168 yards, 25 touchdowns, and only six interceptions.
Those numbers and what he’s done in his career have earned him a spot on the [autotag]Davey O’Brien Award[/autotag] preseason watch list which is given annually to the nation’s top quarterback.
DG named to the 2023 @daveyobrien watch list https://t.co/QGHHX7QRLt | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/6RpCNpniiy
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 8, 2023
Gabriel has a really good chance at being a top-10 passer in [autotag]NCAA[/autotag] history. He’s also only a little more than 3,400 yards from passing Oklahoma legend [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag] at No. 7.
This year his play could be the difference between winning eight or nine games or winning 11 or 12 games. If he does the latter, he’ll be right in it for the Davey O’Brien Award.
Oklahoma quarterbacks have won the award five times. Jason White took home back-to-back Davey O’Brien’s in 2003 and 2004. Sam Bradford won the award in 2008. Then the Sooners went back-to-back again in 2017 and 2018 when Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray took home the trophy.
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