Tag: Brayden Willis

5 Sooners who will be new starters for Oklahoma in 2023

When you have a below .500 season, there’s going to typically be quite a bit of turnover the following season.

When you have a below .500 season, there’s going to typically be quite a bit of turnover the following season. That’s exactly what people should expect for the 2023 season in Norman, Oklahoma.

There are going to be several positions with new starters, some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces the fan base should get to know.

The defensive line might be the position that sees the most turnover. The position that could have a star step into a starting role is most likely in the secondary.

It might not be who you think, either. The offense also is bringing in some new starters this season after leading receiver Marvin Mims and starting tight end Brayden Willis were selected in the 2023 NFL draft.

Here are five players I expect to start this season for the Sooners that didn’t a year ago.

Projecting Oklahoma’s offensive depth chart before summer practice

Summer offensive depth chart projection for the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma has started summer preparation for the upcoming season. Currently, the players are getting in their strength and conditioning work. There have been no padded practices, and there will not be any for a while, but that will not stop us from trying to figure out what Oklahoma’s starting offense and defense will look like when the Sooners take the field on Sept. 2 against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Offensively, the Sooners starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel returned to help quarterback an offense that was 13th nationally in total offense last season. Much was made about Gabriel’s performance but a team finishing in the top 20 in total offense is probably doing many things right. Blaming the quarterback for a 6-7 season seems a bit excessive. In the one game Gabriel didn’t play, Oklahoma scored zero points in its biggest game of the season versus Texas.

Outside of that, Oklahoma underwent departures to the NFL by their starting right and left tackles, Wanya Morris and Anton Harrison, respectively. The latter was selected in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Marvin Mims went in the second round to the Denver Broncos. Starting running back Eric Gray was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Giants. Starting tight end Brayden Willis is a San Francisco 49er after being drafted in the seventh round.

Oklahoma will have holes to fill. We took our best shot at projecting an offensive depth chart while considering transfer portal acquisitions, recruiting, general roster maturation and turnover from last year’s team.

Jalil Farooq is part of what makes Oklahoma’s offense one of the best in the Big 12 for 2023

The Oklahoma Sooners will have one of the best offenses in the Big 12 in 2023 and one of the big reasons why is wide receiver Jalil Farooq.

The Oklahoma Sooners are looking to replace a large amount of production that departed for the NFL in the 2023 draft. Gone are [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag], [autotag]Brayden Willis[/autotag] and [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag], and [autotag]Theo Wease[/autotag] is off to Missouri in the transfer portal.

With players departing comes opportunities for guys to step into bigger roles. One player that showed he is capable of stepping into a bigger role in 2023 was [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag], who had significant playing time for the first time in his collegiate career. He turned in 37 receptions for 466 yards and five touchdowns. He also carried the ball 15 times for 140 yards.

Farooq may not be a household name across the country yet, but in 2022, he displayed a playmaking ability that was enough for our friends at Longhorns Wire to take notice. In their rankings of every Big 12 offense, the Sooners came in at No. 3 and Farooq is one of the reasons.

The more film I watch on Oklahoma receiver Jalil Farooq, the more he reminds me of great Sooners receivers of the Bob Stoops era. Dillon Gabriel is perhaps the most proven quarterback in the league and his offense should score plenty in 2023. — Hickey, Longhorns Wire

Farooq proved a valuable asset in Oklahoma’s multi-dimensional offense, which asks its wide receivers to run reverses and jet sweeps, catch screen passes and run a traditional route tree. Farooq’s size and ability to run with the ball in his hands gives offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby a wide receiver that fits exactly what he’s looking for in a wideout.

With the departure of Marvin Mims and Brayden Willis, the Sooners need Farooq to take the step many are expecting. He has the skills to see 100 targets in Oklahoma’s offense and that should turn into a big-time season for the former four-star wide receiver.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.

2 49ers draft picks received rare ‘gold helmet’ designation from front office

The 49ers don’t give out a ton of gold helmets to draft prospects, but they managed to snag two this year.

The 49ers don’t give out ‘gold helmet’ designations to just any draft prospect. A select few get that label for their performance on the field, but also because of intangible things like leadership and football IQ. Two of San Francisco’s draft picks this year reached gold helmet status according to Matt Barrows of the Athletic.

Barrows wrote a fascinating piece where he dove deep on each of the 49ers’ prospects from this year’s draft with assistant general manager Adam Peters. Penn State safety Ji’Ayir Brown and Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis were the two gold helmet prospects the 49ers landed.

Brown was the player San Francisco traded up to get at No. 87 overall. He has the physical tools to be a good player in the NFL and he posted 10 interceptions across his last two seasons with the Nittany Lions. However, Peters told Barrows that other things stood out to the team about Brown.

Via the Athletic:

“They call him ‘The Voice’ because he was the voice of the defense, the leader of the defense,” Peters said. “And it’s not just what he says, it’s how he plays. Like one of my notes was, ‘He plays every play like it’s his last.’ He plays really, really hard.”

It’s not a huge surprise that the 49ers loved Brown’s playing style. He’s all over the place and constantly around the ball on virtually any Penn State game from the last two years.

Willis, one of the 49ers’ trio of seventh-round selections, also got tabbed as a gold helmet prospect. His toughness stands out on tape as a blocker and as a runner after the catch.

Barrows said it was Willis’ two-year team captaincy and competitive spirit that earned Willis the gold helmet. Peters elaborated via the Athletic:

“We loved his run-after-the-catch (rate),” Peters said. “That was backed up by our R&D guys. He had the highest broken-tackle percentage of all the drafted tight ends.”

Adding another TE who can make plays in the passing game has been something the 49ers have been aiming to do over the last few offseasons. This time they invested two draft picks in TEs who put up good receiving numbers in college.

The 49ers didn’t receive high praise for their draft, but it’s clear that Peters and San Francisco’s front office are high on their picks despite all of their selections coming at No. 87 or beyond. Finding a couple gold helmet players in that mix is a nice win for a team that badly needs to hit on some picks this year and next to extend their Super Bowl window.

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Dillon Gabriel No. 2 in College Sports Wire’s post-spring Big 12 quarterback rankings

Dillon Gabriel No. 2 in College Sports Wire’s post-spring Big 12 quarterback rankings.

After a spring game that provided some entertaining moments, the Oklahoma Sooners have some intriguing position battles at offensive line, defensive line, cornerback, and safety.

One place where the starter is locked in is at quarterback. Dillon Gabrel is QB1 for Oklahoma and enters his second year in the Big 12. Regional Editor Patrick Conn over at College Sports Wire believes Gabriel is the second-best signal-caller in the conference. Gabriel comes in at No. 2 behind Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels.

Gabriel was a huge acquisition for the Sooners prior to the 2022 season. A move that almost didn’t happen after the former UCF passer originally committed to transfer to UCLA. But as has been the case for a good chunk of his collegiate career, he missed time due to injury. Of course, that injury occurred due to a late hit by TCU during their game. The Big 12’s leading passer is hoping for a repeat of last year if Oklahoma wants to avoid back-to-back losing seasons. – Conn, College Sports Wire

Oklahoma enters year two under Venables looking to improve in every facet. Last year’s team was the worst in 20+ years. Bringing back their quarterback will help the Sooners rebound from their 6-7 season.

Improving his pocket presence was a point of emphasis for Gabriel this offseason. Making more routine throws consistently would also help the Sooners’ offense reach another level of production.

If Gabriel can do those two things and the Sooners find consistent playmakers to replace Marvin Mims, Brayden Willis, and Eric Gray, Oklahoma will score a plethora of points in its final season in the Big 12.

Gabriel won Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year by the league’s coaches and earned All-Big 12 honorable mention recognition. He was also named AP Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and garnered second-team all-league acclaim from the Associated Press and Pro Football Focus.

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Redrafting the Tennessee Titans’ 2023 NFL draft class

After the Titans had a polarizing 2023 NFL draft, Shaun Calderon shares what he would’ve done with the picks.

The 2023 NFL Draft is officially in the rearview mirror, and to say some of the Tennessee Titans’ selections was polarizing would be drastically underselling it.

National media outlets have largely been major fans of the Titans’ draft class, resulting in strong grades across the board. However, those outlets often grade the picks in a vacuum and don’t take into account the state of the roster, who they passed up, etc.

The Titans made it known that they played the board and took advantage of several opportunities in which they felt a player was too good to pass up on.

When it comes to drafting, weighing value versus need is on a case-by-case basis, but there has to be a happy balance between the two. Yes, they made several good value picks, but they came at the expense of arguably the biggest need on the team at wide receiver.

There’s no denying Tennessee needed depth at several spots, but the Titans desperately needed to walk away with a starting-caliber wide receiver, yet somehow only left with more questions than at the position than anything.

This article is going to revisit each round and discuss whether or not we would rather stick with the Titans’ original selections.

Without further ado, let’s find out what we would keep the same, as well as what we would have done differently if we were the ones in charge last weekend.

Is a position change in store for TE Brayden Willis?

Is TE Brayden Willis eventually going to find a different position with the 49ers?

The 49ers used their first of three seventh-round picks on Oklahoma TE Brayden Willis. However, there could be a position change in his future.

Willis is a bit undersized at 6-3, 241 pounds. If he stays at TE it’s likely he’d be an H-back or move TE. That’s where a position change comes into play.

There’s a chance the 49ers view Willis long-term as a fullback in their offense. FB Kyle Juszczyk is 32 and has three years left on his contract. Willis’ athleticism and size could make him a perfect fit as a do-everything FB like Juszczyk.

In the meantime, it’s easy to see why the 49ers took a flyer on him as their second TE selected in the draft. He caught 13 touchdowns and racked up 998 receiving yards at Oklahoma, and he’s very good at finding space after the catch.

It’s not out of the question he sticks at TE, but with third-round pick Cameron Latu also in the mix, the 49ers could be looking to eventually replace Juszczyk with a converted tight end.

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Bay Area Brayden Willis: Sooners tight end selected by the San Francisco 49ers

One of the program’s most beloved players and former captain, Brayden Willis was selected in the seventh round by the San Francisco 49ers.

Oklahoma’s final selection of the 2023 NFL Draft is last year’s captain and fan favorite, tight end Brayden Willis. Willis heads west to the Bay Area where he will look to secure a spot on one of the NFC’s best teams, the San Francisco 49ers.

San Francisco chose Willis with the 247th pick in the draft. He’ll begin his career as a corespecial teams player early on as he integrates into the offense and learns from one of the league’s best tight ends, George Kittle.

 

San Francisco also represents a perfect scheme fit for what Willis does best.

He came back to school for the 2022 season to show he could be a meaningful target in the passing game. He led Oklahoma with seven touchdown receptions in 2022. However, his best skill on the field is as a blocker, where he shows excellent athleticism, effort, and power as he displaces defenders.

For a team like the 49ers who run the ball as frequently as they do, his blocking ability could help him see the field sooner than many may expect for a seventh round pick.

The journey to this moment was a long one for Willis, but each year as a Sooner, he continued to grow and attack every game with, max effort. From his early seasons where he played H-back filling in for various roles in Lincoln Riley’s offense to Willis’ ascension as a leader and a 2022 second-team All-Big 12 selection, Willis gave his all to the Oklahoma Sooners. His work paid off. Now he’s in the NFL, where he will get to join another Sooner and one of the NFL’s best players in Trent Williams.

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WATCH: Best Brayden Willis highlights from Oklahoma

Willis was a standout Sooner last season, and put together a great highlight reel to warrant his selection by the #49ers in the seventh round

The San Francisco 49ers finally have a plethora of draft picks in the seventh round, with three selections set to take place in short order, barring a trade. They spent their first pick of the round on Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis, who should have fun learning his craft under one of the best players at his position in the NFL, George Kittle.

Willis isn’t likely to be leaned on in San Francisco’s offense early in his career but could become a guy for the 49ers in the long-term. Check out his best plays at Oklahoma below to get a better sense of what he brings to the table as a rookie:

49ers add another TE, pick Oklahoma’s Brayden Wills at No. 247 overall

The #49ers added another TE with Oklahoma’s Brayden Willis in the 7th round.

The 49ers added another tight end in the draft. This time they selected Oklahoma’s Brayden Willis with the 247th overall pick.

Willis was connected a lot to the 49ers in the pre-draft process. He’s a good athlete at 6-3, 241 pounds, and he caught 75 balls for 998 yards and 13 touchdowns in 58 college games. He had a lot of open space in Oklahoma’s offense and took full of advantage of after-the-catch opportunities.

He could wind up projecting long term as a fullback with third-round choice Cameron Latu already in the mix as a tight end. The 49ers don’t have a ton of quality depth at the TE spot though so it’s not out of the question both of them make the team as rookies.

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