Tag: dillon Gabriel

Oklahoma ranked No. 71 nationally in ESPN’s returning production rankings

Where do the Oklahoma Sooners stand according to ESPN’s returning production?

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In an ESPN+ story, Bill Connelly released his returning production percentages and rankings for all 131 FBS teams.

According to Connelly’s rankings, Oklahoma is No. 71 nationally in returning production at 64 percent. Offensively, the Sooners return just 47 percent of its production, which ranks 117th. OU brings back 82 percent of its production on the defensive side of the football, which is good for 15th nationally.

Here’s the formula for determining returning offensive production: percent of returning wide receiver and tight end receiving yards equals 37 percent of the overall number, percent of returning quarterback passing yards equals 29 percent, percent of returning offensive line snaps equals 28 percent and percent of returning running back rushing yards accounts for 6 percent.

Transfers’ production at their previous school are taken into account to determine returning production.

In the case of Oklahoma’s offense, that doesn’t help much, though. UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel has passed for 8,037 yards and 70 touchdowns over the course of his collegiate career, but he only played in three games last season due to injury.

If you add in Gabriel’s passing yards during the 2021 season to what Spencer Rattler, Ralph Rucker and Caleb Williams passed for, it equals 4,229 passing yards for the Sooners last season. Only 834 of those passing yards are returning, equaling 19.7 percent returning production for quarterbacks.

Again, at least in the case of OU’s quarterback position, it’s a tricky percentage to use, because the hope is Gabriel remains healthy throughout 2022. Under that scenario, Gabriel would approach or exceed his passing totals from the 2019 and 2020 seasons when he passed for 3,653 and 3,570 yards, respectively.

At wide receiver and tight end, it’s easier to understand. OU will be without four of its top-five pass catchers from 2021 next season. Michael Woods and Jeremiah Hall are entering the 2022 NFL Draft and Jadon Haselwood and Mario Williams are transferring to Arkansas and USC.

Factoring in the 12 receptions and 97 receiving yards Daniel Parker Jr. recorded at Missouri last season, Oklahoma pass-catchers caught 291 passes for 3,522 receiving yards in 2021. According to those numbers, OU is replacing 49.7 percent of its receiving yards from last season.

Looking strictly at the running back position and not accounting for any of Oklahoma’s other rushing yardage, Sooner running backs carried 304 times for 1,810 yards. Of course, Kennedy Brooks rushed 198 times for 1,253 rushing yards, meaning OU is replacing 69.2 percent of its rushing yardage from running backs.

Defensively, Connelly’s ranking allots 59 percent of his returning defensive production to percent of returning tackles, 28 percent to percent of returning passes defended, 8 percent to percent of returning tackles for loss and 5 percent to percent of returning sacks.

Here’s where things get a little wonky after mixing in the Oklahoma transfers’ production. As a team, OU recorded 902 tackles, 97 tackles for loss, 33 sacks and 24 passes defended. Not accounting the transfer numbers in just yet, Oklahoma would be replacing 40.3 percent of its total team tackles, 53.1 percent of its tackles for loss, 65.1 percent of its sacks and 33.3 percent of its passes defended.

Since Oklahoma added defensive transfers Jeffery Johnson, Jonah Laulu, C.J. Coldon, Trey Morrison, Kani Walker and T.D. Roof, all of those replacement numbers actually dip.

With the transfers mixed in, Oklahoma is replacing just 31.2 percent of its tackles, 41 percent of its tackles for loss, 49.4 percent of its sacks and 20 percent of its passes defensed.

To this point, Coldon had 10 passes defensed in 2021 and Morrison had four. OU had 24 passes defensed as a team last season. The outgoing players for Oklahoma represented 364 tackles, 51.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks and eight passes defensed. The transfer portal adds accounted for 261 tackles, 28.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and 16 passes defensed.

Point being, returning production can be an inexact science once transfer portal players start getting tossed in. The bottom line is this: OU is replacing four of its top five pass-catchers offensively, its leading rusher, its top three sacks and tackles for loss producers and three of its top five tacklers from last season.

OU landed one of the top transfer quarterbacks in Gabriel and there are able replacements across the board elsewhere, some of which also happen to come from out of the transfer portal as well. How all of it meshes together won’t be determined by anybody’s returning production rankings.

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Oklahoma Sooners 20th in NCAA.com’s way-too-early top 25

In their way-too-early look ahead at the 2022 season, NCAA.com had the Oklahoma Sooners 20th in their top 25.

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They’ll be in somewhat unfamiliar territory when the Oklahoma Sooners open the 2022 college football season. With the turnover in the coaching staff and on the roster, analysts across college football are unsure of what to expect from the new-look Oklahoma Sooners. They’ll have a lot to prove.

It’s fair to wonder what the Sooners will be with a first-year head coach. At the same time, that first-year head coach has been a star in the making for what seems like a decade. He’s been one of the best coordinators in all of college football since leaving Oklahoma for the Clemson Tigers. Venables isn’t the trendy assistant coach getting his first opportunity. He’s been patiently biding his time for the right job after working under legends of the sport for the last 30 years.

But it isn’t simply the changes on the coaching staff that have people selling the Oklahoma Sooners in 2022. They lost a ton of talent off of an 11-win team from 2021. That’s why Stewart Mandel from The Athletic left the Sooners out of his way-too-early top 25 and why the Sooners are just inside NCAA.com’s early look at the 2022 season.

The Sooners played in close games seemingly every week but impressed in the bowl game. New coach Brent Venables will have to deal with major changes to the roster, though UCF transfer QB Dillon Gabriel is now a Sooner. But Oklahoma is Oklahoma — the Sooners expect to compete for titles every year. – Wayne Staats, NCAA.com

Did the Oklahoma Sooners lose a lot this offseason? Absolutely. At the same time, they found players in the transfer portal and in their bowl game win over Oregon that should step in and mitigate the losses.

Losses along the defensive line will be the most difficult to recover. In most NFL draft projections, Nik Bonitto and Perrion Winfrey are top 60 talents. Isaiah Thomas was one of the most important players on the roster as a pass rusher and run defender. Losing those three at the same time creates a massive hole on the defensive line.

Jalen Redmond stuck around for one more year and will be the leader of the unit. Reggie Grimes, Marcus Stripling, and Ethan Downs played well in the Alamo Bowl win over Oregon. Their performance provides optimism that the Sooners pass rush will be in good shape despite the turnover.

The additions of Jeffrey Johnson and Jonah Laulu from the transfer portal provide experience and production that can step into the defensive line rotation and help immediately.

At quarterback, the Sooners went back to the transfer portal after the last couple of seasons of using “homegrown” talent in Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams. Dillon Gabriel comes to the Oklahoma Sooners with a ton of experience and production at UCF. With 26 starts, more than 8,000 yards passing, and 79 total touchdowns, the Sooners offense should maintain its level of production despite the change in offensive play-caller.

We’re a long way from the start of the 2022 college football season, and with winter practices underway and spring ball right around the corner, the Sooners have some questions to answer. However, with Venables leading the way, there is little doubt in Norman that the Oklahoma Sooners can contend for the Big 12 title in 2022.

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ESPN: ‘Turnover on offense’ is Oklahoma’s biggest question mark entering 2022

ESPN’s Chris Low writes that “turnover on offense” is Oklahoma’s biggest question mark entering the 2022 college football season.

ESPN ranked Oklahoma No. 17 in its 2022 Way-Too-Early top 25 rankings. Now, ESPN is digging into the biggest question marks for each of the teams listed within that top 25.

For Oklahoma, ESPN’s Chris Low identified “turnover on offense” as the Sooners’ biggest potential pitfall entering 2022.

The combination of the coaching staff overhaul and exodus of talented players on offense could make for a challenging transition for new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and his staff. With quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler both gone via the transfer portal, Lebby will reunite with UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel. Lebby coached Gabriel in 2019, when he passed for 3,653 yards and 29 touchdowns. Some of the biggest question marks for the Sooners will center around the players trying to make plays for Gabriel. Running back Kennedy Brooks is off to the NFL after rushing for 1,000 yards in three different seasons for OU. This is a big opportunity for Tennessee transfer Eric Gray to step up as the go-to running back. Leading receiver Marvin Mims returns, but Jadon Haselwood (Arkansas) and Mario Williams (USC) both transferred. Theo Wease is coming off a 2021 season in which he barely played after being injured in the preseason, and tight ends Jeremiah Hall (NFL draft) and Austin Stogner (transfer to South Carolina) have both moved on. – Low, ESPN.

There’s no arguing that Oklahoma will have a different signal-caller in 2022. The great news for the Sooners is it happens to be Gabriel who has thrown for over 8,000 passing yards and 70 touchdowns during his college career.

He’s also familiar with Lebby, which should help jumpstart Oklahoma’s transition into Lebby’s offensive system.

“I think that the great thing about him walking in the door right now…there’s a couple of things, but, one is the production. The guy’s averaging over 300 yards a game, three touchdowns a game in 26 starts, so you can’t argue that piece of it, but I think probably the thing that I’m most excited about is this guy knows how to operate. He knows how to walk in the building every single day have great ownership in how he’s going to operate, how he’s going to take command of the offense and what it means to be a quarterback. To me, that is huge and that is critical as we set the tone and the standard of how we’re going to do things,” Lebby said.

Oklahoma will be replacing a pair of starters on its offensive line as left guard Marquis Hayes and right tackle Tyrese Robinson both declared for the 2022 NFL Draft. OU added TCU transfer Tyler Guyton and Cal transfer McKade Mettauer to go along with four-star signees Jake Taylor and Jacob Sexton on its offensive line to help withstand those departures.

“I feel good about it. Those guys have really done a nice job as well. We’ve got two in, obviously midyear. Both those guys have been working their butt off, but when you look at it, we’ve got a talented group. We’ve got some guys that are young, that can’t be young anymore. Again, offensively, being a little new, being different than what they’ve been, looking for great maturity from the old guys, guys that have played a bunch of ball that continue to push that group, lead that group,” Lebby said.

At running back, it is a big opportunity year for Gray. Gray finished the 2021 season with 412 rushing yards on 78 carries and had 229 receiving yards on 23 receptions. Marcus Major will factor in at running back, too. Then, there’s the two four-star freshmen: Jovantae Barnes out of Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas and Gavin Sawchuk from Valor Christian High School in Littleton, Colo.

“I think the first thing that sticks out with both of those guys, Jovantae and Gavin, is they can flat run. Those guys have great top end speed. They’re guys that can figure out how to take it distance from anywhere they’re getting it on the field, so that’s exciting for us. Jovantae’s done a really nice job getting going here in the first two and a half, three weeks and then, obviously, really excited about Gavin’s spring track season that he’s having and then as he gets here in June to get him going. Those guys are going to get counted on. We’ve got two guys back, but we’ve only got two other guys on scholarship that are going to be with us. I do think both are incredibly capable and are going to have great careers for us,” Lebby said.

As for the pass-catching departures, OU has its No. 1 wide receiver back in Marvin Mims, returns Theo Wease from injury and saw the emergence of Jalil Farooq in its bowl game win over Oregon. Plus, Oklahoma signed two talented wide receivers in Jayden Gibson and Nicholas Anderson.

The loss of Jeremiah Hall might be what the Sooners feel the most. OU did get good news in the form of tight end Brayden Willis announcing his return and the Sooners added transfer tight end Daniel Parker Jr. from Missouri as well.

There’s no doubt that OU will look vastly different offensively, and, if you’re looking for a question mark, then offensive turnover is a fair question mark to have. Skill positions isn’t where the concerns should be, though.

If Oklahoma’s offensive line comes together, then it’s hard to envision offensive struggles being what holds the Sooners back in 2022.

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Positional breakdown of additions made by the Oklahoma Sooners in 2022

A positional breakdown of the players the Oklahoma Sooners added through the transfer portal and the 2022 recruiting class.

The Oklahoma Sooners suffered losses to the NFL draft and the transfer portal. The talent that walked out the door is difficult to replace. However, holes in the lineup mean new opportunities for younger players to step up and the depth chart to do its job.

Brent Venables and his staff did a tremendous job addressing needs through the transfer portal, and they attacked the 2022 recruiting cycle looking to the future of the program.

Through it all, they’ve added some nice pieces that can contribute right away and a bright future that might be able to make an impact in year one with the Sooners.

Here’s a positional breakdown of each player the Oklahoma Sooners added this offseason.

‘I said yes as fast as I could’: Jeff Lebby fired up to return to OU

OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby says there’s “genuine juice” at Oklahoma and discussed his excitement to return to his alma mater.

Jeff Lebby originally planned to come to Oklahoma to play for offensive coordinator Mark Mangino. That never happened. Of course, Mangino took the head coaching job at Kansas ahead of the 2002 season.

Rated by Rivals as a four-star signee and the No. 12 offensive tackle in the 2002 class, Lebby also never played at Oklahoma. Instead, a back injury led Lebby to become a student assistant under then-head coach Bob Stoops.

After graduating from OU in 2007, Lebby spent one season at Victoria Memorial High School as the offensive line and tight ends coach before stints at Baylor, Southeastern, UCF and Ole Miss.

Now, he’s excited to return as offensive coordinator to the program where his journey began.

“Real quick thing I wanted to say was just obviously how happy I am to be back. Fifteen years have gone by since I spent my last fall in Norman. So humbling for me to be back, be back in this position being the offensive coordinator, said Lebby on national signing day.

He continued, “Sitting in a great chair that has got a ton of history and a ton of tradition and look forward to fighting for every inch every single day to continue to build this thing the right way. Fired up about getting the opportunity obviously to work for coach Venables. His passion, his vision, his consistency is something that you can feel every single day. We’ve got a great thing going. It’s going to be a lot of fun,”

It didn’t take long for Lebby to say yes when Venables inquired about Lebby taking over as OU’s next offensive coordinator.

“I think I always wanted to be back. You know, having the opportunity to be back, I’ve told a lot of people, ‘I’ve got asked to come to Oklahoma twice. I said yes as fast as I could.’ That’s the reality of it. When coach Venables called me and said, ‘Hey, I think there’s an opportunity that this could happen. Want you to be my guy.’ He said, ‘You got any questions?’ I said, ‘Where’s the pen? I want to sign as fast as I can.’ Was always hopeful to be back in this position that I’m in right now. It’s like I said earlier. I’m humbled to be sitting here and getting to work with these guys every single day and getting ready to roll,” Lebby said.

During the 2008-11 seasons, Lebby served as Baylor’s assistant director of football operations in charge of offensive quality control and was the program’s liaison to the NFL. Then, during the 2012-16 seasons, Lebby coached Baylor’s running backs. He was also Baylor’s passing game coordinator and offensive recruiting coordinator for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

While Baylor’s running backs coach, the Bears had five 1,000-yard rushers.

Lebby’s offensive prowess continued in his next stops. In his lone season at NAIA Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla. in 2017, the Fire led the nation in scoring offense at 55.1 points per game. They ranked third in total offense per game with 557.4 yards per game.

With quarterback McKenzie Milton, Lebby helped guide UCF to the Fiesta Bowl as the Knights’ quarterbacks coach in 2018. In the 2019 season with Dillon Gabriel as his starting quarterback, Lebby and UCF set a school record and ranked second nationally in total offense with 540.5 yards per game and ranked fifth in the country in scoring offense with 43.4 points per game.

His offenses at Ole Miss were equally explosive. Both were ranked in the top six nationally in total offense and in the top 25 in scoring offense. His 2020 unit broke the SEC record for total offense in conference play with 562.4 yards per game. In 2021, Ole Miss finished No. 6 in total offense, averaging 492.5 yards per game.

Now, he’s reunited with Gabriel in Norman and tasked with continuing those results at a place in Oklahoma that’s accustomed to delivering similar offensive numbers.

“I think that the great thing about him walking in the door right now…there’s a couple of things, but, one is the production. The guy’s averaging over 300 yards a game, three touchdowns a game in 26 starts, so you can’t argue that piece of it, but I think probably the thing that I’m most excited about is this guy knows how to operate. He knows how to walk in the building every single day have great ownership in how he’s going to operate, how he’s going to take command of the offense and what it means to be a quarterback. To me, that is huge and that is critical as we set the tone and the standard of how we’re going to do things,” Lebby said of his starting quarterback Gabriel.

One thing that has been apparent with Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, Lebby and the rest of OU’s staff since arriving in Norman is the impression they’ve left on recruits and their families. It seems like visitors can’t stop raving about what’s happening at Oklahoma.

“Yeah, I think the thing that I’ve continued to say is genuine juice. There’s a lot of fake, fluffy juice out there and energy with guys, but I think when you walk in the building, we really do have some genuine juice. We care about young people, we care about the people that we work with every single day and we care about Oklahoma football and the University of Oklahoma. I think it’s very, very unique because we’re all tied so tightly together that guys when they walk in the building, they feel that, they see that and it’s nonstop throughout the weekend and it’s been refreshing, it’s been great and we’re going to continue to build off it,” Lebby said.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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‘He’s going to be a special player’: Jeff Lebby on freshman quarterback Nick Evers

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby spoke of the Sooners’ ​pursuit and signing of QB Nick Evers, saying, “He’s going to be a special player.

One of the more interesting side effects of the coaching transition for the Oklahoma Sooners in December was all of the new names that jumped on OU’s radar. With a new coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball and a new offensive coordinator, names that we hadn’t heard OU linked to for some time or at all were in the mix to get scholarship offers from the Sooners.

Freshman quarterback Nick Evers was one of those players. He was experiencing his own coaching transition as the Florida Gators moved on from Dan Mullen. This opened the door for him to consider other opportunities and reconnect with coaches from his recruitment period. And Sooners’ new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby jumped at the chance to reengage the four-star player from Flower Mound, Texas.

Speaking to the media on national signing day, Lebby shared how he’d felt about Evers from his time at Ole Miss. Lebby said, “I offered him, he was just kind of getting going from a recruitment standpoint, and I want to say we were maybe five or six at the last place when I offered him. And so, had been very, very high on Nick for a long time.”

After getting to Norman, Lebby made Evers his No. 1 priority, saying, “Immediately make the phone call. That’s actually my first stop on the road Wednesday. I get here. Do compliance paperwork, HR paperwork. I get in the car, and I drive straight to Flower Mound. Sat in the house with them that evening. They came up on an official, and we were able to get it done.”

It was a quick process. Evers decommitted from the Florida Gators on Dec. 7. On Dec. 8, he received an offer from Oklahoma. On Dec. 10, Evers and his family were in Norman for an official visit. On Dec. 13, Evers committed to the University of Oklahoma, signing his national letter of intent during the early signing period on Dec. 15. Eight days after decommitting from the Florida Gators, Nick Evers was a Sooner,

It was trust that Evers and his family were placing in Lebby. But Lebby’s pursuit wasn’t simply because of the Sooners’ potential quarterback transition that hadn’t played out yet. Lebby’s a believer in Nick Evers. “Man, this guy’s going to be a special player,” Lebby said. “He’s got a special skill set. He’s really good between the ears, and he cares. He’s passionate about being a good football player. He’s passionate about being a good person. He’s about the right things, so excited as heck about having the opportunity to coach him and walk with him as he gets to go where he’s going to go.”

When Evers committed to the Oklahoma Sooners, Caleb Williams was still the starter as the team prepared for the bowl game. Less than a month later, Williams entered the transfer portal. Hours after that, Dillon Gabriel entered the picture with a commitment to the Sooners, and just last week, Williams transferred to USC.

Evers never blinked, telling Chris Hummer of 247Sports, “You know, it’s a crazy thought actually. I have nothing wrong with being thrown into the fire early. I’m going to work my butt off every single day. To get the opportunity to be able to see the field soon is a blessing. I just need to get ready for it.”

Though he will not be the starter in 2022, it’s clear the Sooners have grand plans for the Flower Mound, Texas, native. Evers has a great mentality and perhaps even bigger heart, putting his name, image and likeness opportunities to work with the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Brent Venables, Jeff Lebby and the coaching staff were not thwarted by all of the changes to the 2022 recruiting class or by the transfer portal because of the coaching change. They hit the ground running and did fantastic work turning the Sooners’ 2022 class into a top-eight group through national signing day. The Sooners’ pursuit and signing of talented quarterback Evers is evidence of their efforts.

But the pursuit and the signing are just the beginning. Evers is on campus as an early enrollee, getting a head start on his playing career for the Oklahoma Sooners. Though there will likely be a competition for the No. 2 quarterback spot behind Dillon Gabriel, Evers clearly has Lebby impressed.

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Amid transition, Dillon Gabriel ‘knows how to operate’ for Oklahoma

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby discussed how Dillon Gabriel has grown since their time together and why he’s OU’s guy.

In this day and age of the NCAA’s transfer portal, maybe it’s not necessarily a novel concept for an offensive coordinator and starting quarterback to pair for a second time at a different school.

Oklahoma is hoping this second act is even more successful than the first for OU’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby and transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Gabriel threw for 3,653 yards and 29 touchdowns in his true freshman season at UCF with Lebby as his offensive coordinator. The Knights finished 10-3 that season.

After two seasons apart, the pair is reunited at Oklahoma. Lebby made it clear on national signing day that Gabriel is OU’s unquestioned starter heading into the spring.

“Yeah, Dillon’s our guy right now as we move forward. Again, we’ve got one guy on our roster that’s thrown a college football pass. Obviously, he’s thrown a bunch of them, and he’s thrown them really, really well, so we’re going to move forward that way and go get ready,” Lebby said.

Gabriel was recently ranked as one of the top-10 returning quarterbacks by Pro Football Focus. For good reason, too. Gabriel has thrown for 8,037 passing yards and 70 passing touchdowns over the course of this college career.

Lebby said Gabriel’s production is one thing that can’t be denied.

“Obviously, we’ve got a ton of history. It goes all the way back to me recruiting him out of Mililani High School. Going to Hawaii, being there for home visits, him having an official visit at UCF while I was there obviously with Heup. We’ve got a ton of history. I think that the great thing about him walking in the door right now. … There’s a couple of things, but, one is the production. The guy’s averaging over 300 yards a game, three touchdowns a game in 26 starts, so you can’t argue that piece of it,” Lebby said.

What Gabriel represents for a program in transition is equally if not more important for the Sooners. Gabriel understands Lebby’s offense, has a wealth of collegiate starts under his belt and knows what is required during an offseason in order to be successful.

“Probably the thing that I’m most excited about is this guy knows how to operate. He knows how to walk in the building every single day have great ownership in how he’s going to operate, how he’s going to take command of the offense and what it means to be a quarterback. To me, that is huge and that is critical as we set the tone and the standard of how we’re going to do things. With coach Venables and myself, the things that we’re going to do offensively, having that guy that can roll with it immediately and knows what to expect I think is huge. The transition’s been really good,” Lebby said.

Lebby and Oklahoma are counting on Gabriel to help with the offense’s installation and to set the expectations for this team among his teammates.

“The importance of him being here, his ability to be able to go coach the other quarterbacks and the other players without us around is a huge deal. I tell them all the time, ‘We’re in a race against ourself to be as good as we can possibly be before we get into spring ball.’ That’s got nothing to do with the football while we’re around, so how do we get that done? Well, it’s Dillon being able to be out there with those guys, coach them every single day and, again, understanding the expectation of how we’re going to operate once we get going in spring ball. It’s invaluable,” Lebby said.

The other exciting part for Lebby is Gabriel is a more experienced and a better quarterback today than he was when Lebby left for Ole Miss.

“I think the thing that I’ve seen from a growth standpoint with Dillon is, just like everything else, right, he’s lived it. He’s got that much more experience since I left him back two years ago. His production was really good in ’20. Obviously, he had the collarbone deal last year, but the things that I saw were him just being able to extend and create a little more. When he was a young guy, he wanted to be in the pocket. He wanted to throw from the pocket. That’s what he knew best, so he was getting the ball out of the hand. I think what you saw from his true sophomore year was is you saw him create a little more. You saw him extend a little more. And so, those are the things that we’re going to need. To obviously do things that we all can’t coach,” Lebby said.

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The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel leaves Oklahoma out of his post-transfer portal early top 25 for 2022

The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel left Oklahoma out of his early top 25 for the 2022 football season in his post-transfer portal rankings.

The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel spent part of Friday defending his decision to leave Oklahoma out of his post-transfer portal early top 25 for the 2022 college football season.

Mandel didn’t think much of Oklahoma in his “too early top 25” back on Jan. 11 either. He had the Sooners No. 25 then, just behind No. 24 Kansas State.

Oklahoma has been revolving door since Riley left; 14 starters, most notably QB Caleb Williams, have either turned pro or entered the portal. But UCF transfer QB Dillon Gabriel is a nice Plan B. He should have Marvin Mims and Theo Wease as targets. Brent Venables will need to rebuild in the front seven, though LB Danny Stutsman had a promising freshman season. Cornerbacks D.J. Graham and Woodi Washington are solid. – Mandel, The Athletic.

Clearly, Mandel is putting more stock into Oklahoma’s transfer portal and 2022 NFL Draft defections rather than the Sooners’ transfer portal additions. That starts with freshman quarterback Caleb Williams who passed for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns in seven starts.

It includes OU’s leading rusher in 2021, running back Kennedy Brooks. Oklahoma is also set to replace four of its top-five pass catchers. Wide receivers Michael Woods, Jadon Haselwood and Mario Williams are gone. Tight end Jeremiah Hall is off to the NFL Draft, too.

Offensive linemen Marquis Hayes and Tyrese Robinson elected to forego their extra seasons of eligibility and enter the NFL Draft was well.

Defensively, the Sooners will be replacing three of their top four tacklers (linebacker Brian Asamoah, safety Pat Fields and safety Delarrin Turner-Yell) and its top three sacks and tackles for loss producers (outside linebacker Nik Bonitto, defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas and defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey).

All of this is true. Leaving Oklahoma outside of the top 25 entirely and behind teams like Kentucky, USC, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Houston, Wisconsin and LSU feels a little crazy and a step too far, though.

Seemingly, Mandel doesn’t put much stock into Oklahoma’s transfer portal additions. UCF transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel is the Sooners’ starter and he’s passed for over 8,000 yards and for 70 touchdowns over the course of 25 career starts.

Gabriel has a No. 1 target in wide receiver Marvin Mims, Oklahoma’s leading receiver each of the past two seasons with 1,315 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in his two seasons combined.

Theo Wease is set to return from injury and OU got a good sign for the future when wide receiver Jalil Farooq caught three passes for 64 yards in Oklahoma’s 47-32 win over Oregon in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

The Sooners added offensive linemen McKade Mettauer from Cal and Tyler Guyton from TCU to help offset the losses of Hayes and Robinson up front. Mettauer made 28 starts at right guard for Cal over the past three seasons.

OU also added an infusion of transfer portal talent up front defensively to help weather the losses of Bonitto, Thomas and Winfrey. Defensive linemen Jeffery Johnson from Tulane and Jonah Laulu from Hawaii. Johnson and Laulu combined for 77 tackles and 6.5 sacks in 2021.

Oklahoma defensive tackle Jalen Redmond returns for the Sooners and he’s registered 21.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in his Oklahoma career. At linebacker, OU got good news when DaShaun White decided to come back to Norman for another season. Plus, David Ugwoegbu and Danny Stutsman will be in the mix there.

In the secondary, OU adds Wyoming transfer C.J. Coldon, North Carolina transfer Trey Morrison, and Louisville transfer Kani Walker. That’s in addition to the return of OU’s starting cornerbacks from 2021 in D.J. Graham and Woodi Washington. Defensive back Key Lawrence, who was one of the Sooners’ best players defensively for a stretch of last season, also returns.

Mandel has Baylor as the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 11 and Oklahoma State at No. 15.

OU will get both Baylor and Oklahoma State at home in 2022. Mandel had Kansas State in his “just missed” section of his rankings alongside the Sooners. Oklahoma plays Kansas State at home in 2022 as well.

Mandel probably isn’t creating his rankings with teams’ schedules for next season in mind, but, if he was, that would be another reason it’s just difficult to envision Oklahoma ripping off the type of 8-4 or 9-3 season it would take for the Sooners to wind up outside the top 25 when it’s all said and done.

In the time being, a little bulletin board material never hurt anybody.

Oklahoma begins its first season with head coach Brent Venables on Sept. 3 against UTEP from Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Dillon Gabriel ranked as 7th best transfer portal QB of the 2022 cycle

College Football News named Dillon Gabriel as the seventh-ranked transfer portal QB for this cycle.

The Sooners have experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows thanks to the NCAA’s transfer portal. The 2022 cycle of transfers has seen Oklahoma go through a major roster shift that usually comes when programs are broken or being rebuilt. That doesn’t describe the Sooners but they lost a head coach and had a mass exodus of players to the transfer portal or the NFL draft.

Enter Brent Venables and a new offensive coordinator in Jeff Lebby and an entirely new defensive staff. The Sooners’ new offensive coordinator immediately got to work trying to sell star freshman Caleb Williams on his offensive system. Williams wasn’t sold and decided to test his options in the transfer portal.

College Football News ranked the quarterbacks that entered the transfer portal this cycle and multiple quarterbacks with connections to Oklahoma landed on the list.

Dillon Gabriel, the now undisputed starter in Norman and transfer from UCF landed at number seven. At number one sits Caleb Williams, who opted to follow Lincoln Riley to USC and will presumably be the starter there. Behind Williams, sits Quinn Ewers, the former number one quarterback in the 2021 class. Kedon Slovis, JT Daniels, Max Johnson round out the top five. Jaxson Dart, who was thought to be a possible acquisition for Oklahoma sits at sixth. He ultimately landed at Ole Miss. Behind Gabriel at seventh, is former Oklahoma starting QB Spencer Rattler who heads to South Carolina to be coached by former Oklahoma tight ends coach Shane Beamer.

While the Sooners would have loved to land Dart, if for nothing else for depth and a real quarterback competition, they can’t be too upset with the starter they have in Gabriel. He brings experience, a wealth of knowledge, an understanding of Lebby’s offensive system thanks to their time together at UCF.

Gabriel will enter the winter and spring practice as the unquestioned starter for Oklahoma and provides stability at a position that saw two different quarterbacks start 5 games last year. Behind Gabriel will sit freshman QB Nick Evers and walk-on Ralph Rucker.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Lincoln Riley on the Transfer Portal: ‘I think at some point we’ll have to put in some guardrails’

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley tells ESPN that the transfer portal needs “guardrails.”

There hasn’t been a head coach in college football that has benefitted from the transfer portal as much as former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley. Why, as recently as Monday, Riley landed the top quarterback in the transfer portal in Caleb Williams.

Recruiting Williams to USC comes after benefitting greatly from getting Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts in the portal. And yet, he was on ESPN talking about how the transfer portal needs some overhaul.

Speaking to the ESPN crew, Riley said:

Obviously this has changed really the way that college football operates. I think at some point we’ll have to put in some guardrails. Some ways to ensure when this can happen, when this cant happen so that players, staffs, all that are a little bit more on the same page. Right now it’s so open ended that it’s I think it’s difficult for players, difficult for coaches, difficult to build rosters. You try to project for the future. I think kind of the ill effects of that when you start looking at the high school athlete and how many of these scholarships are actually going to players in high school is concerning. I think so much has changed and there’s a lot of really good people and smart people in college football. I think a lot of those people need to get together as we have a chance to assess all that’s happened and I think we can put together a plan that gives everyone the flexibility that they want but also maintains the integrity of building a roster and being able to use all the different channels in a positive way. – Riley to ESPN College Football

This isn’t to criticize how Lincoln Riley goes about building his squad. The Oklahoma Sooners benefitted from his ability to draw players through the transfer portal. He’s operated under the rules in the portal and done a great job at adding talent. However, the timing feels incredibly convenient after he built his career through the transfer portal and landed Caleb Williams just a day ago via the portal.

Does the transfer portal, and NIL, need some adjustments? Perhaps. But to hear it from Riley seems a bit disingenuous considering his history as a head coach.

Yes, he mentions wanting to maintain the freedom that college players currently enjoy, but that’s also what he wants to put guardrails on. The guardrails that don’t exist for coaches. One could argue that the lack of restriction on coach movement in college football is as much to blame for the wild wild west of the transfer portal as anything.

A lot of players are entering the portal because the coaches they committed to play for are leaving unexpectedly, putting players on uneven footing as they assess their college football futures. That’s the exact reason that Caleb Williams, Mario Williams, and Latrell McCutchin ended up leaving OU. The coaching turnover.

College coaches can up and leave in the middle of contracts without any repercussions. We saw Riley, Brian Kelly, and Mario Cristobal all make what could be considered lateral moves, and there was nothing their previous school could do about it. They don’t have to sit out a year. They get to pick right up at their next spot. And yet, when the players enter the transfer portal, it’s a problem for the coaches.

Still, it’s strange to hear Lincoln Riley talk about the transfer portal like it needs any kind of regulation. It reveals a real lack of self-awareness.

It would be one thing if Dabo Swinney talked about regulating the transfer portal. Swinney’s been adamant against the use of the portal in his years at Clemson. But for someone like Riley to speak of regulating the transfer portal is rich.

Under Brent Venables, the Oklahoma Sooners have been beneficiaries of the transfer portal in 2022. They landed Dillon Gabriel, Jeffrey Johnson, Jonah Laulu, McKade Mettauer, and a host of other players that could help them. But Venables isn’t going on ESPN to talk about how it’s a problem that needs to be fixed after he built his career through the portal.

We’ll see if any changes or regulations get put into place on the transfer portal. But it would be surprising to see a guy like Lincoln Riley turn against the very thing that’s helped establish him as one of the best coaches in college football.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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