Tag: Jeff Lebby

5 takeaways from Oklahoma’s Cheez-It Bowl depth chart

5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners Cheez-It Bowl depth chart.

Oklahoma will look different when it takes the field against the 13th-ranked Florida State Seminoles on Thursday evening in the Cheez-It Bowl. The Sooners will have some fresh faces in new spots as they look to avoid finishing below .500 for the first time since 1998.

Starters [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag], [autotag]Anton Harrison[/autotag], [autotag]Wanya Morris[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag] have opted out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft. That leaves voids on both sides of the ball the Sooners have had three weeks to plan for. What were the results of that planning? Well, we have the answers, as Oklahoma released its depth chart for the game.

With that info out, here are five takeaways from the depth chart below.

Where did the top quarterbacks sign in the 2023 recruiting class?

Jackson Arnold to Oklahoma and Arch Manning to Texas, but where did the rest of the top quarterback sign to play college ball in 2023?

From the high school level to the NFL, quarterback play has become the greatest contributor to winning in the game of football. Teams can certainly win without great quarterback play, but they must have an elite defense and running game to do so.

So when a team lands one of the top quarterbacks in a recruiting class, it’s a big deal.

The Oklahoma Sooners have had their fair share of great quarterbacks over the last 20 years. Sooner quarterbacks have won four Heisman trophies and earned more trips to New York as a finalist as well.

In the 2023 cycle, the Sooners signed [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]. A four-star player at the time of his commitment last January, he has skyrocketed over the last 11 months. From earning Elite 11 MVP honors in the summer to becoming a consensus five-star player, Arnold’s stock has seen incredible growth. He backed that up with an incredible senior season, during which he accounted for 4,400 total yards and 57 touchdowns to help Denton Guyer reach the Texas 6A state semifinals.

He’s the highest-ranked player in the Oklahoma Sooners recruiting class, according to 247Sports. Arnold was the second-longest tenured commitment in the class before signing with Oklahoma on the first day of the early signing period. Pulling the No. 1 player in the state of Texas and the No. 7 player in the class is a huge win for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag].

Arnold’s addition helped ease the loss of Malachi Nelson, who flipped to USC to follow Lincoln Riley last December. Signing Arnold also helped the Sooners answer the Arch Manning signing by Texas.

There are a lot of good quarterbacks out there going to a lot of different places. Let’s take a look at where the top signal-callers landed.

2024 4-star QB prospect Michael Hawkins sets commitment date

2024 four-star quarterback and Oklahoma Sooners target Michael Hawkins sets commitment date.

As we inch ever closer to 2023, Oklahoma is getting closer to finalizing its 2023 recruiting class. Only national signing day remains. As the calendar turns to the new year, the Sooners begin to finalize their 2024 big board.

The headliner for the 2023 class was consensus five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold. He’s the presumptive future of the program. However, the protocol under Venables and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby is the Sooners will take a QB every class regardless of who QB1 is.

Enter Michael Hawkins. Hawkins, a four-star QB out of Allen High School, is one of the quarterbacks Oklahoma has been recruiting the heaviest for the class of 2024.

Hawkins is an Oklahoma legacy. His father played defensive back for the Sooners in 2002 before going on to the NFL. His defensive coordinator? Brent Venables.

Oklahoma is in a good spot for Hawkins’ services and has already received multiple projections in Oklahoma’s favor. Parker Thune of 247Sports dropped a crystal ball prediction in favor of the Sooners only minutes after the offer was announced. Their biggest competition right now is the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Michael Hawkins shared that he plans to commit on Jan. 31.

 

It firmly looks like a two-horse race between the Hogs and Sooners. Oklahoma probably feels most in control to land its first commit of the 2024 cycle.

Hawkins fits the mold of dual-threat quarterbacks that Lebby prefers in his up-tempo, no-huddle offense. He’s not a collegiate-ready QB yet, but Hawkins’ natural gifts and arm talent stand out on film, making him a great QB for the Sooners.

Though Allen’s season didn’t finish the way he would have liked, Hawkins’ leadership and determination stood out to Kyle Youmans of DallasCowboys.com, who was on the call for Allen High School’s playoff matchup with Duncanville. Youmans shared his thoughts with Sooners Wire managing editor John Williams on the “Locked On Sooners” podcast in December.

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Jackson Arnold looking forward to learning from Dillon Gabriel

New Oklahoma Sooners signee Jackson Arnold is looking forward to learning all he can from Dillon Gabriel.

The incumbant starting quarterback has become a bit of a lightning rod for Oklahoma Sooners fans, but nonetheless, Dillon Gabriel is still in Norman. After playing in the Cheez-it Bowl, the veteran will likely stay for one more year in Norman before declaring for the NFL Draft.

Gabriel will have some company in the QB room with five-star signee Jackson Arnold set to enroll at OU in January. Gabriel will have real competition for his starting job come next season.

The two QBs had very different recruiting experiences. Arnold came from what many consider to be the high school football capital of the world in Texas. Gabriel was an unheralded prospect from Hawaii, with only three stars to his name.

However, Arnold is looking forward to learning all he can from his teammate according to a recent article from Eli Lederman of the Tulsa World.

“I think it’s big,” Arnold shared with Eli Ledderman of the Tulsa World. “He’s gonna hopefully stay another year and I can just learn under him and pick up tendencies that he does and stuff like that to help me out and win the starting job the next year.”

“If my number gets called upon to play I’m going to be ready to play,” he continued. “But expecting to learn under Dillon and learn from him. I’m ready to play. But I’m also just ready to learn under him and soak up everything I can for him.”

While many people’s memories of the uber-talented Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams have perhaps soured their opinions on Gabriel, the Sooners are a much better team with both Dillon Gabriel and Jackson Arnold in the QB room.

Dillon Gabriel is a very smart football player, and he knows that when he’s done at OU, Arnold will his successor, be it this season or next. Gabriel has many traits that would behoove Arnold to learn from and perhaps pick up for himself.

Ideally, Arnold will not see the field in 2023 aside from mop up duty or short-yardage situations. If he remains the backup through 2023, it means Gabriel is playing good football and the Sooners are winning games. While Gabriel doesn’t really need to improve that much from his 2022 performance, perhaps Arnold’s arrival will give him a bit of a spark as he goes into spring ball.

The Oklahoma Sooners are better off with a healthy and motivated Dillon Gabriel starting at QB in 2023.

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Oklahoma’s crown jewel of 2023 class, 5-star QB Jackson Arnold signs with the Sooners

Five-star QB and long-time commit Jackson Arnold signs with Oklahoma on Wednesday.

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners’ [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag] is beginning to put pen to paper.

Jackson Arnold has risen to astronomical heights since he committed to Oklahoma on Jan. 24. He’s officially a Sooner as he signed his national letter of intent Wednesday.

Arnold was 28-3 as a starter. He won Elite 11 MVP during the summer before totaling 57 touchdowns, 3,476 passing yards and 921 rushing yards as a senior in Texas’ highest level of football. He completed 68.7% of  his attempts and threw just three interceptions on the season. He also won the Landry Award, honoring the best player in North Texas, last week. On Tuesday he was honored with the Max Prep State Player of the Year award for Texas.

All of those accomplishments helped Arnold climb to the No. 7 player nationally on the 247Sports composite. He’s the fourth-ranked quarterback overall.

Prior to his meteoric rise, Arnold was ranked No. 47 overall by 247Sports. In just under 11 months, he’s risen 40 spots and is a consensus five-star with every major recruiting service.

Arnold was most heavily by Notre Dame and Ole Miss. Jeff Lebby’s prior recruitment while with the Rebels helped the Sooners land the now five-star prospect in the 2023 class.

Now that he’s a Sooner, what can we expect? Unless Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Dillon Gabriel decides to leave following Oklahoma’s bowl game, which seems unlikely, Jackson Arnold will not be starting in his first year with the Sooners.

Arnold should compete with Davis Beville for the backup QB job. If Beville’s performance in 2022 is any indication, Arnold should be Oklahoma’s QB2 when it kicks off next season against Arkansas State. Beyond that, Arnold will be the overwhelming favorite to take over the program in 2024, which could be the Sooners’ first season in the SEC.

Oklahoma’s future is riding on Arnold’s development. He seems poised for stardom and appears to have the head to handle whatever his career throws at him. Now the real fun begins as we watch his story unfold in Norman.

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. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.

Oklahoma’s Jeff Lebby among highest paid assistants in college football

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby is among highest paid coordinators from 2022.

For the most part, the Oklahoma Sooners offense had a really good season. Jeff Lebby’s first season as offensive coordinator wasn’t perfect, but the offense was productive, had moments of explosiveness, and produced a 1,000-yard wide receiver, Marvin Mims, and a 1,000-yard rusher, Eric Gray.

The Sooners ranked 35th in the country in points per game, 32.9. Take away the 49-0 shutout, and the Sooners averaged 35.89 points per game, which would have moved them into the top 20 in the nation.

The Sooners were 18th in yards per game, ninth in plays per game and 24th in first downs per game.

Sure, there were moments the offense didn’t rise to the occasion. Specifically, third and fourth down were a struggle for the Sooners. Oklahoma converted on third down just 39.9% of the time and was worse on fourth down.

Heading into the offseason, the Sooners have to figure out their money-down offense. Their inability to convert on third and fourth down crushed this team, especially late in the season.

Because the offense had a lot of good moments, the Sooners could have won a few more games had the defense held up its end. Perhaps the biggest issue was not having a reasonable plan at quarterback when Dillon Gabriel went down.

Lebby didn’t trust Davis Beville to throw the ball and didn’t give him the chance in the second half of the TCU game or much in the Texas game. When it was clear Beville wasn’t the answer, they could have given Nick Evers some snaps to see if his athleticism could have provided a spark. Instead, Evers didn’t come in the game until the final few minutes and ran one series.

The Sooners have to find a better option at backup quarterback this offseason unless they believe that Jackson Arnold is the answer should something happen to Dillon Gabriel.

Lebby was among the highest-paid coordinators from the 2022 season, according to USA TODAY Sports. Here are the top 10.

Will Dillon Gabriel return to the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023? Let’s hope so

Will Dillon Gabriel return to the Sooners in 2023? Oklahoma will be better for it. From @bendackiw

Neither Brent Venables or Dillon Gabriel confirmed that the quarterback would be returning to the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023 following their loss to Texas Tech.

If this was Gabriel’s only year as a Sooner, it was one to remember. The southpaw quarterback was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year while tossing 24 touchdowns to only six interceptions. Gabriel was good. Gabriel was very good.

However, there’s a bit of a problem. His name is Jackson Arnold.

The five-star quarterback from Denton Guyer is one of the top prospects in the 2023 class and is currently on a playoff run. Arnold will be taking on Southlake Carroll in the 6A Division 2 quarterfinals this week.

Arnold has the makings of a future stud, and he’s coming to Norman very soon. The last time a highly touted QB prospect came through Norman, the older quarterback was booed. We all remember the “we want Caleb” chants.

Will Dillon Gabriel stick around?

His draft stock is nowhere near good enough to justify declaring for the draft as a redshirt junior and he’s already used his one transfer. If he wants to do so again, he will need a waiver.

So, it seems likely that Gabriel will return to Norman in 2023. Here’s where we could run into some trouble.

If Gabriel has one bad game, god forbid a bad game at home, the fans will be calling for Jackson Arnold to come in. The “we want Jackson” chants will rain down on Owen Field.

Dillon Gabriel doesn’t deserve that, nor did Spencer Rattler.

Gabriel was the perfect guy to run Jeff Lebby’s offense in year one. He is the one who made the offense work. The Sooners were a complete disaster without him. Is he the greatest quarterback in the world? No, he’s not. But he’s a darn good one.

Will he come back? Probably. Hopefully he will be welcomed back with open arms.

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Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year

After a solid season that saw him throw 24 touchdowns to six interceptions, Dillon Gabriel was named Big 12 Newcomer of the year. From @thatmanbryant

With the regular season behind us, the Big 12 their postseason award winners. Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel was named 2022 Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

Gabriel, a transfer from soon-to-be Big 12 member UCF. came to Oklahoma to reunite with Jeff Lebby who played a massive part in Gabriel being named a Freshman All-American.

Gabriel, a fourth-year junior from the state of Hawaii, threw for 2,925 yards with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions this season. He completed 63% of his passes (216/343) in 11 games. He also carried the ball 75 times for 300 yards and five more touchdowns on the ground.

 

 

Gabriel’s ability to stretch the field vertically was a key component in Oklahoma’s passing game. He led the Big 12 in passing yards per game.

The conference was validated after picking Gabriel for the same award in the preseason.

He joins other OU winners: Jalen Hurts (2019), Dede Westbrook (2015), Adrian Peterson (2004), and former OU offensive coordinator turned Tennessee Volunteers head coach  Josh Heupel (1999) to win the award.

In the aftermath of Oklahoma’s overtime loss to Texas Tech, Gabriel was non-committal on returning next year but barring a surprise his offensive coordinator and QB coach Jeff Lebby believes he will return.

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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. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. You can also follow Bryant on Twitter @thatmanbryant.

Social media reacts to Oklahoma’s 51-48 loss to Texas Tech

What did social media have to say following Oklahoma’s loss to Texas Tech?

The Oklahoma Sooners couldn’t find a week in Big 12 play where the offense and the defense came together simultaneously. In their loss to Texas Tech, it was the defense reverting to the team that gave up 40 points in four straight games to start Big 12 play.

The defense came out hot against the Red Raiders, not really allowing much of anything the first quarter. But once the clock flipped to the second, it was a totally different ball game.

Over the remainder of the game, the Sooners were outscored 51-34 as the defense couldn’t get much of a pass rush going and the coverage struggled to contain Texas Tech wide receivers.

It was a frustrating yet fitting end to the Sooners’ 2022 season. Sure, they have the bowl game to play, but that performance won’t do much to assuage any concerns about this team heading into 2023.

Brent Venables and his staff have a lot of work to do to try to improve the worst defense in the Big 12. Here’s a look back at how social media reacted to the Sooners loss.

Puzzling decisons doomed Oklahoma Sooners in loss to Texas Tech

Brent Venables and Jeff Lebby made some puzzling decisions in Oklahoma’s 51-48 loss to Texas Tech. From @bendackiw

There were several decisions made by the Oklahoma Sooners coaching staff that came back to bite them in their 51-48 loss:

  1. The fake field goal attempt up 14-0
  2. Oklahoma’s fourth down decisions
  3. Brent Venables icing the kicker at the end of regulation
  4. Jeff Lebby sending Dillon Gabriel out to receive a pass from Drake Stoops

Early in the game, the Oklahoma Sooners were dominating Texas Tech. They were up 14-0 and in the red zone with a chance to add on to the lead. The drive stalled when Oklahoma couldn’t pick up more than two yards on 2nd and 10 and had no gain on a Dillon Gabriel completion to Drake Stoops that went for zero yards.

That put the Oklahoma Sooners at 4th and 8 with an opportunity to go up 17-0 in the first quarter. Ever the aggressor, Brent Venables elected for a fake field goal and Michael Turk’s pass was dropped by Brayden Willis to turn it over on downs.

Venables was trying to get up 21 points and really step on the throat of Texas Tech, but the failed attempt took points off the board and gave the Red Raiders life. From that possession on, Tech outscored the Oklahoma Sooners 51-34 over the remainder of the game.

Oklahoma hasn’t been good enough on third and fourth down for the Sooners to go for it on fourth down as often as they did against Texas Tech. The Sooners were 1 of 4 on fourth down and gained minus-9 yards on those plays. I get wanting to be the aggressor, but there were times in this game when it looked like Oklahoma was setting up to attempt a fourth down. On the third and long, they’d just try to get as much yardage as possible so they could attempt to pick up the first on fourth down. Oklahoma is now converting on third down at just under 40% of the time and on fourth down just 37% of the time.

Now, I am less upset about Venables icing the kicker than I was last night. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, it doesn’t. If a Sooner doesn’t get his hand on it, Trey Wolff’s first attempt probably goes in.

That being said, a Sooner did get his hand on it. The field goal was blocked and the play didn’t count. That’s how it goes sometimes. If icing the kicker worked, we’re talking about how crafty Brent Venables is.

I will let this one go. Perhaps if the defense didn’t allow 48 points in regulation, they wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with.

Number two is the one I really have a problem with.

Texas Tech could not stop OU in any facet of the game. Dillon Gabriel was having a career night and Eric Gray–yet again–was running all over the place.

Jeff Lebby took the ball out of Gabriel’s hands, gave it to Drake Stoops, who then lobbed it to Gabriel. Gabriel then got laid out and had to come out of the game for a play.

The Texas Tech DB had about an eight-yard cushion to line up Gabriel on a massive hit. The OU coaching staff again showed they have no faith in any QB not named Dillon Gabriel and put Brayden Willis in the shotgun for the wildcat formation.

Gee, I wonder what the tight end is going to do while lined up at quarterback.

To his credit, Willis tried his best to make something out of it, but this situation was completely avoidable.

Jeff Lebby called a play that put his most valuable player who was concussed a month and a half ago in harm’s way. The Sooners lost all momentum on the drive after Gabriel went out. It was a nonsensical and pointless play call.

I’m a big believer in not tempting fate. Putting Gabriel in that situation was tempting fate. You do not call that play in overtime.

It was just a bad game in what has been a bad season. Venables icing the kicker is one thing, but Lebby should know better than to put his quarterback in that spot. This coaching staff has a lot of issues with themselves they need to work out before week one of next season.

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