Tag: dillon Gabriel

Oklahoma Sooners announce captains for week one vs. Temple

Oklahoma names Jackson Arnold, Billy Bowman, Danny Stutsman, and Bauer Sharp captains for week one vs. Temple.

The first game week of the season is at hand and the Oklahoma Sooners have announced their first set of captains for their week on matchup vs. Temple.

The Sooners select captains for each game during the regular season and then will select season captains when they get to the postseason.

Leading the Sooners into the game against Temple and into 2024 are the guys you’d expect to get a captain nod. Quarterback [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], linebacker [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], and safety [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] represented the Sooners at SEC Media Days in July. They’ll be joined by transfer tight end [autotag]Bauer Sharp[/autotag], who has impressed this offseason with his work ethic, attitude, and physicality.

Stutsman and Bowman are going into their fourth season with the Sooners. They were a part of Lincoln Riley’s final recruiting class in Norman but have become two of the most valuable pieces of the first three years of the Brent Venables era.

Stutsman and Bowman turned down an opportunity to go to the NFL for one more year at Oklahoma and a swim through the SEC. SEC media and coaches have taken note of the development of Oklahoma’s defensive stars, voting the dynamic duo to the preseason All-SEC first team.

They’ll be relied upon as the Sooners enter the SEC. Their experience and playmaking ability is a part of what has so many optimistic about the potential of Oklahoma’s defense in 2024.

Arnold is entering his first year as a starter. The former five-star prospect and Gatorade National Player of the Year has all the tools to be one of the next great quarterbacks to wear the crimson and cream. Venables has praised Arnold’s leadership and work ethic this offseason as the Denton Guyer product takes over for [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag].

More: Takeaways from Oklahoma’s official 2024 depth chart release

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

Dillon Gabriel gifts Ducks with custom headphones after the conclusion of fall camp

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel gifted the entire Oregon Ducks team with custom Beats By Dre headphones

The Oregon Ducks have wrapped up fall camp, and the 2024 college football season is a week away. That means the time for talking and speculation about the coming season is nearly over, and the action will soon be underway.

To celebrate the start of the season, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel gifted the entire Ducks team with a pair of custom headphones. The headphones are Beats By Dre with a green and yellow Oregon Ducks colorway.

Gabriel recently closed a name, image and likeness licensing deal with Beats By Dre as part of a new class of Beats athletes called “Beats Elite.” Each member of the 2024 Beats Elite class received headphones with colors and designs corresponding to their respective schools. Other 2024 Beats Elite members are Caleb Downs, DJ Uiagalelei and Shedeur Sanders.

Heading into 2024, Gabriel is one of the most talented quarterbacks and players in the country, which gives him a high NIL value. This season is Gabriel’s last before enters the NFL draft. If the Ducks can meet or exceed expectations, Gabriel could cash in on some serious NIL money.

This is where PFF thinks Wisconsin’s QB stacks up with rest of Big Ten

This is where PFF thinks Wisconsin’s QB stacks up with rest of Big Ten

The Wisconsin Badgers football team is less than a week away from their regular season opener Aug. 30 at home versus Western Michigan and they’ll have a new starting quarterback in 2024, handing the reins to transfer Tyler Van Dyke.

Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus College ranked the quarterbacks in the Big Ten, releasing his list on X. He considers Van Dyke to be the No. 3 overall QB in the conference.

Fellow transfer Dillon Gabriel (formerly with Oklahoma) and Penn State sophomore Drew Allar are the only two players considered to be better at the position by Wasserman.

Van Dyke transferred to Wisconsin in the offseason after four seasons at Miami, including an impressive 2021 campaign in which he compiled 2,931 passing yards and 25 touchdown passes while throwing six interceptions with the Hurricanes.

The Badgers will square off with both Gabriel and Allar in 2024, as well as Riley Moss (USC, No. 4) and Hudson Card (Purdue, No. 8) of the quarterbacks considered to be in the top half of the rankings.

What an opposing coach thinks about Jackson Arnold?

The Sooners officially hand the reins over to Jackson Arnold on August 30th.

The college football season starts in a matter of days, with Week Zero action on Saturday, August 24th featuring four FBS games. The slate is headlined by Florida State vs. Georgia Tech in an ACC battle taking place in Ireland. Six days later, the Oklahoma Sooners will take on the Temple Owls on Friday, August 30th to kick off their 2024 season.

There is optimism in Norman this year, despite the brutal realities of a very tough [autotag]SEC[/autotag] schedule.

Head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] enters Year 3 with a veteran-led defense that projects as the best Oklahoma has had in a long time.

On offense, sophomore quarterback [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] steps into the driver’s seat, a moment that Sooner Nation has been anticipating for years. He needs to gain experience and reps with live bullets flying, but his upside and talent have the coaching staff excited. He’ll be relying on a deep core of weapons and a rebuilt offensive line to help him put points on the scoreboard.

But just about every team is excited about their quarterback this time of year, whether it’s a new player or a returning starter. To cut through the clutter, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg “spoke with more than 25 head coaches and defensive assistants (mostly coordinators) during the spring and summer to gather intel on the top returning quarterbacks and what to expect (ESPN+) — both good and bad — this fall.”

Arnold was one of many quarterbacks profiled and a familiar name for Sooner fans went on record to give a very positive evaluation of the former five-star prospect. Here’s what Rittenberg heard on Arnold.

“The Sooners had a peaceful transition of QB power from [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] to Arnold, ESPN’s No. 3 overall recruit in the 2023 class,” Rittenberg said. “Like Gabriel, Arnold is a shorter quarterback (6-1) with dual-threat ability and a track record of prolific passing (more than 7,000 yards in high school). Arnold started the Alamo Bowl against Arizona and had 361 pass yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. His first season as OU’s full-time starter coincides with the team’s move to the SEC, which brings a schedule featuring Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU in addition to the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag] game against Texas.”

The coach that Rittenberg spoke to about OU’s new man under center was former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag], who recruited Arnold to come to Norman, coached him last season as a freshman and is now the head coach at Mississippi State. Predictably, Lebby is still very high on his prized recruit.

“He’s going to have a chance to have a really good year,” said Lebby. “They’ve got some really good pieces around him. They’re going to be better at tight end, better at running back, and they’ve got some great, great pieces in the receiver room. He’s set up really, really well.”

The pieces around Arnold are solid, as running back [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag] and wide receivers [autotag]Deion Burks[/autotag], [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] and [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag] are all really good weapons. If the tight end position improves as Lebby believes it will and the new offensive line gels, Arnold could be leading a very productive offense into battle each Saturday.

Arnold is now in the hands of co-offensive coordinators [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag]. The latter will continue to coach tight ends while the former will replace Lebby as the play caller and quarterbacks coach, meaning he’ll be speaking to Arnold throughout the game in college football’s new helmet communication system. Littrell and Arnold had a good relationship while Littrell was an offensive analyst in 2023. The development of the young QB is squarely on the shoulders of the former North Texas head coach.

Oklahoma’s success won’t depend entirely on Arnold going nuclear every week in 2024. However, the Sooners will need him to be a star if they want to navigate the difficult SEC slate successfully and take another step forward in Venables’ third season.

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

3 quarterbacks from 2023 Oklahoma roster to start in 2024

General Booty joins Dillon Gabriel and Jackson Arnold as Oklahoma quarterbacks from last season expected to start under center in 2024.

In the program’s final season in the Big 12, the Oklahoma Sooners went 10-3 overall and 7-2 in conference play, ultimately falling 38-24 to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.

The Sooners are now members of the SEC, hoping to replicate last year’s success under coach Brent Venables.

Any team that wins 10+ games at the FCS level is usually stocked with depth at each position, and for the Sooners that was particularly true at quarterback – evidenced by the fact that three QBs from last year’s roster are set to start at three different schools this season.

First there is last year’s starter, Dillon Gabriel, who is taking over for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks after throwing for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns last season. Gabriel is a top candidate to win this year’s Heisman Trophy award and hopes to lead the Ducks to the CFP.

Next is Jackson Arnold, Gabriel’s backup last year who is now stepping into the starting role for the Sooners. Arnold completed 44 of 69 pass attempts last season, throwing for 563 yards and four touchdowns.

Finally we have all-name captain General Booty, who did not see the field last year for the Sooners but was recently named the starter at Louisiana-Monroe.

Booty will start for ULM and first-year head coach Bryant Vincent. The Warhawks face Jackson State followed by UAB and Texas to begin the campaign.

Booty had a 32-yard touchdown run during Oklahoma’s spring game last year, and should be one of the more fun non-Power conference quarterback transfers to watch this season.

Dillon Gabriel recognized as one of college football’s top QBs ahead of the 2024 season

USA TODAY writer names Oregon Ducks QB Dillon Gabriel as one of college footballs top 10 QBs.

Throughout the Oregon Ducks 2023 season, anyone who was paying attention knew they were witnessing greatness watching Bo Nix. Every week, Nix did something spectacularly with consistency, and he finished the year with a 77.4 completion percentage, the most efficient rate in NCAA history.

Ducks fans didn’t have to wait too long for the uncertainty of who would replace Nix to pass. Days after the transfer portal opened, Oklahoma’s star QB Dillon Gabrile entered the portal, and Oregon had its successor. Gabriel is a worthy replacement, and recently he was named one of the country’s top 10 quarterbacks by USA TODAY writer Paul Myerberg.

Gabriel has had an illustrious college career thus far. In three years at UCF and two at Oklahoma, Gabriel racked up 14,865 passing yards, 1,065 rushing yards, and 152 total TDs, while completing 63.4% of his passes. Gabriel had his best season in 2023, finishing with 3,660 passing yards, 30 TDs, and a 69.3 completion percentage.

Just like Nix, there was a time last season when Gabriel was thrown into Heisman Trophy conversations, and after his fantastic performance in the Red River Showdown (the annual rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas), Gabriel was seen by many as the Heisman favorite.

Now, ahead of the 2024 season, the weight rests heavy on Gabriel’s shoulders, as he is challenged with bringing Oregon to the lofty heights expected of them this year. Gabriel isn’t the only one holding the weight, but so much of a team’s success is dependent on the play of their quarterback.

Oregon kicks off its 2024 season in ten days, marking the start of Gabriel’s sixth and final season of college football. He and the Ducks both have a great opportunity to win their first-ever national championship, but there’s a lot of football to be played before the College Football Playoff is on the table.

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Sooners star wide receiver ready to go for 2024 season

After suffering a knee injury in 2024, Sooners wide receiver Andrel Anthony appears to be ready for the start of the 2024 season.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been battling the injury bug at wide receiver during fall camp. [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] was lost for the season, and [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] missed time with a toe injury, though he is now said to be ready to go.

But one healthy wide receiver who has made substantial progress this fall is [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag].

Anthony, who transferred in from Michigan in 2023, had a tremendous start to the season before going down with an ACL tear in the Red River Showdown. Through five and a half games, Anthony recorded 27 catches for 429 yards and one touchdown. He became [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag]’s go-to guy in the early going. He had three games over 75 yards receiving and was on his way to a big day against Texas, with five catches for 42 yards.

The injury put a damper on what could have been a big year. As the 2024 season approaches, however, Anthony sounds like he’s ready to roll.

“He’s doing good,” Brent Venables shared with the media on Tuesday evening. “He won’t be required to wear (the brace). We’re obviously trying to be careful with him. He doesn’t have any limits.”

Venables shared it would be up to Anthony whether he would continue with the knee brace, but the senior wide receiver is off and running.

It has been nearly 10 months since his injury, and he has made tremendous progress this offseason to get back. With Gibson out for the year, Oklahoma’s wide receiver rotation will need the speedy Anthony. It’s unlikely he’ll start right away, but the Sooners will make sure to ramp him up through the first three games of the season to get him game-ready when [autotag]SEC[/autotag] play hits.

If he can recapture his early season success from a year ago, the Sooners have a nice rotation of wide receivers for Jackson Arnold to rely on.

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

Oregon OC Will Stein using ‘easy-money throws’ to crack the code to offensive success

Scoring points is all about “easy money throws” and offensive simplicity for Oregon in 2024.

Cracking the offensive code in the world of football can be viewed along similar lines to breaking into the vault of a bank. Once you get in, unlimited riches await,  but getting through the door is no easy task.

We’ve seen people be successful before. Chip Kelly famously did it with the Oregon Ducks a decade ago, and coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel have blown up in the NFL ranks for their offensive wizardry.

It’s a complicated feat that has become rare over the years, with many trying to be innovative but failing to get the desired results. But after the 2023 season, Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein seems to believe that he has the ability to crack that code.

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His secret? Simplicity.

“Take the easy money,” Stein said. “Everybody wants these 50-yard bombs every single play, but it’s not reality.”

Those 50-yard bombs certainly make for highlight-reel-worthy plays, but they often lead to turnovers and mishaps, as well. In the reality that Stein is living in — one where he draws up an offense designed around a Heisman contender and several preseason All-Americans — keeping things simple and letting the playmakers do what they do best often leads to the best results.

For proof of this, look no further than what former Oregon quarterback Bo Nix did in 2023 — throwing for 4,507 yards, 45 TDs, and 3 INTs, with an ADOT (average depth of target) of 7.0 yards — and what he is continuing to do at the NFL level.

“Everybody watched Bo [Nix] last night. Sean Payton, right?” Stein said, referencing Nix’s second preseason game on Sunday. “Dink, dunk, curl, shot, run it in. Like, it’s not rocket science.”

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

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Through two preseason games, Nix has completed 23-of-30 passes for 205 yards, 2 TDs, and zero interceptions. It hasn’t been flashy, but it’s been efficient enough to set him up to secure the QB1 job for the Denver Broncos and convince much of the NFL world that he has what it takes to succeed at a high level.

Stein hopes that his quarterbacks in Eugene see this as well.

“Everybody wants air yards and all this BS crap. Let’s score touchdowns,” Stein continued. “How do you score touchdowns? Get it to your playmakers fast. That’s it.”

For Dillon Gabriel, that means choosing to hit Terrance Ferguson over the middle on a curl pattern rather than forcing it into double coverage down the sideline to Evan Stewart. For Dante Moore, it means dumping it off to Jordan James on a swing pattern when the pressure starts to close the pocket.

In either instance, it calls back to those three code-cracking words that Stein has been harping on all offseason — easy-money throws.

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“It’s not rocket science, and everybody confuses that,” Stein said. “When our quarterbacks figure that out like Bo did last year, you throw for 45 touchdowns and 4,500 yards, and you score a ton of points. That’s where we’ve got to get to, and we’re nearing that. I feel really good with our first group and some immediate backups, but we’ve got to continue to lean on trusting the scheme, trusting the system, and taking the easy money.”

If the Ducks can do that again in 2024, their offense may reach the same heights it did a year ago when it finished the season ranked No. 1 in passing offense, and No. 2 in both scoring offense and total offense.

As Stein says, it’s not rocket science. It’s just the three-word code to offensive success.

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In-helmet communication giving Oregon OC Will Stein new control over offense

With the new in-helmet communication, Will Stein is adapting to more control over the Ducks offense.

College football has been an ever-changing entity for the past several decades, but never more so than over the past five years.

While things like the transfer portal, name, image, and likeness, and conference realignment may garner most of the headlines, one of the most recent changes that we expect to see this fall could be among the biggest game-changers of all.

In-helmet communication has been approved in the FBS, and when it comes to gameplay, this could potentially make a massive difference.

No longer will offenses and defenses be forced to spend valuable pre-snap seconds looking over to the coaches on the sidelines while their plays get signaled in. Now, one player on offense and one player on defense — typically the quarterback and a linebacker — will be designated with a green dot on their helmet, and have communication with a coach through an earpiece up until there are 15 seconds left on the play clock.

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For Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Will Stein, this has allowed him to have more of an impact on the offense, dictating plays, audibles, and checks to his signal-caller all in real-time.

So far through spring and fall camp, Stein has been enjoying the process of adapting to the new system. Of course, he also has had to work on condensing the flow of information, and not putting too much on the QB’s plate.

“You don’t want to talk too much because it can just become white noise for the QB,” Stein said on Monday after practice. “But giving them specific things within the play of ‘Hey, if we get this, check to that.’ That also helps as well.”

The new rule was passed back in the spring of 2024, so Oregon got to try things out during the spring football season and get their feet wet with the technology. Now that they’re deep into fall camp, it’s starting to feel more natural for coaches and players.

Somewhat.

“It feels like you’re in a movie,” sophomore QB Dante Moore said of the green dot.”Just hearing what Coach Stein is thinking before he calls a play and helps us out with protections, or helps us out with checking plays. But overall, as a kid you’ve always watched documentaries of some NFL quarterbacks in the huddle, taking control of the huddle, hearing the play call.”

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While getting the process of calling an offense through a speaker may have taken some time, and getting used to the new intricacies of the communication had its learning curves, up next for Stein is learning how his quarterbacks differ when it comes to pre-snap communication.

Bo Nix was such a detail-oriented player that he liked to check everything at the line of scrimmage and change plays when he felt necessary. So will Dillon Gabriel or Dante Moore be the same way?

“I think there’s a fine line because you’ve got to find what the quarterback likes,” Stein said. “Does he want a lot of communication or not a lot? It just depends on the guy, but it’s been really smooth this fall camp.”

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In reality, we won’t see a massive difference this fall when watching the offense operate on the field. The coach will get the play call in from the sideline, and the QB will get his players in position before the snap.

But make no mistake, thanks to the new green dot, the whole world has opened up for Stein and his offense.

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Trio of Oregon Ducks named Associated Press pre-season All-Americans

A trio of Oregon Ducks were named pre-season All-Americans by the Associated Press going into the 2024 season.

We know that the Oregon Ducks are expected to be one of the best teams in the nation this fall, contending for a national championship as new members of the Big Ten. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see that a trio of the Ducks’ best players have been named preseason All-Americans, according to the Associated Press.

On Monday, quarterback Dillon Gabriel, wide receiver Tez Johnson, and right tackle Ajani Cornelius were all named second-team pre-season All-Americans, per AP.

These honors are just the last of many for the three of these players, all of whom have been named to multiple awards watch lists leading into the season.

Johnson and Cornelius were named first-team preseason All-Americans by the Sporting News.

27 total players were selected for the first team offense and defense on Monday, 10 of which came from the SEC, with eight coming from the Big Ten. The Ohio State Buckeyes led the Big Ten with four players named to the first team.

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