Tag: Nicco Marchiol

Dillon Gabriel No. 1 in Athlon Sports Big 12 QB rankings, but how does the rest of the conference stack up?

Dillon Gabriel No. 1, but how did Athlon Sports rank the quarterbacks in their way-too-early Big 12 rankings?

How it stands at the quarterback position can determine a lot about your favorite football team’s future. Nothing’s guaranteed on the field, but having the best quarterback in the conference gives you a leg up on the competition. Well, at least it should.

One of the more disappointing aspects of the 2021 season was the Oklahoma Sooners had a significant talent advantage at quarterback compared to their conference mates, but weren’t able to take advantage. There were a host of reasons, but the play of Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams wasn’t what Oklahoma has come to expect at the position in recent years.

Perhaps, we’ve been spoiled by the Heisman-level play provided by former quarterbacks Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts. At the same time, in several games in 2021, the quarterback play was subpar leading to losses at Baylor and Oklahoma State and creating way-too-much drama in a win over Kansas.

Dillon Gabriel takes the reigns at quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners with lowered expectations nationally. Inside the Big 12, however, Gabriel is considered the best in the conference according to Athlon Sports Steve Lassan. Recently, Lassan projected each of the starting quarterbacks for the Big 12 and ranked them 1-10 with Gabriel coming out on top.

Despite the coaching change and the switch to Jeff Lebby’s offense, the Sooners remain a favorite in the Big 12. Having the best quarterback helps. But as we saw in 2021, it’s going to take more than a quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners to win games in the new-look defensive Big 12.

The defenses Baylor and Oklahoma State will put on the field in 2022 is what make each a significant contender for the conference crown. Spencer Sanders and Gerry Bohanon may not be the quarterback Gabriel has proven to be, but their teams aren’t asking them to throw 40 times to win a football game. Efficiency and ball security are the names of the game in Stillwater and Waco, and when those two are efficient and protect the football, their teams are difficult to beat.

There are still several quarterback battles to play out in spring ball, but here’s how Athlon Sports ranked the Big 12 quarterbacks.

Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel ranked No. 1 Big 12 quarterback by Athlon Sports

Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel earned the top spot in Steven Lassan’s pre-spring, way-too-early Big 12 quarterback rankings.

Dillon Gabriel’s decision to transfer to Oklahoma has the Sooners in a great spot entering 2022. It means OU has a quarterback in place with 25 collegiate starts, over 8,000 passing yards and 70 touchdown passes to his name.

“It was a chance to play with a really good team. This school’s got a lot of history with quarterbacks, but also just with great players,” Gabriel said in his recent podcast appearance.

Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan projected who each Big 12 team’s starting quarterback would be and ranked the 10 quarterbacks. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby already named Gabriel the starter on national signing day, so there’s no mystery in Norman.

Lassan ranked Gabriel as the Big 12’s No. 1 quarterback in his “pre-spring, way-too-early” Big 12 quarterback rankings for 2022.

After Gabriel, Lassan ranks Oklahoma State’s Spencer Sanders No. 2, Texas’ Quinn Ewers No. 3, Baylor’s Gerry Bohanon No. 4 and Kansas State’s Adrian Martinez No. 5.

In the bottom half of his Big 12 quarterback rankings, Lassan ranks TCU’s Max Duggan No. 6, Texas Tech’s Donovan Smith No. 7, Kansas’ Jalen Daniels No. 8, Iowa State’s Hunter Dekkers No. 9 and West Virginia’s Nicco Marchiol No. 10.

Here’s what Lassan wrote about Gabriel.

The transfers of Spencer Rattler (South Carolina) and Caleb Williams (USC) depleted Oklahoma’s quarterback room. However, the news isn’t all bad here for the Sooners. Although Williams will be missed, Gabriel arriving as a transfer from UCF softens concerns about this position. Also, Gabriel worked under offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby at UCF in ‘19, so the transition in scheme should be minimal. There’s a lot of new around Gabriel this offseason, so spring practice is all about acclimation and getting everyone comfortable in the new scheme. Developing depth behind Gabriel is a must. – Lassan, Athlon Sports.

OU signed four-star quarterback Nick Evers back in December. Evers is already on campus, so that should help Oklahoma in building that depth behind Gabriel.

In the meantime, Lebby and OU feel great that Evers is leading the Sooners in this transition year.

“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.

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Hamilton’s QB vomited during the final TD pass of the wild comeback over Bishop Gorman

You thought the Hamilton comeback over Bishop Gorman couldn’t get any crazier? On the final TD pass, the Huskies QB vomited on the ball while it was being snapped.

As if the Hamilton High School (Chandler, Ariz.) comeback victory over Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) couldn’t get any crazier, Huskies quarterback Nicco Marchiol led the comeback while sick. Sick enough that he threw up during game play.

Sick enough that he vomited as the football was being snapped to him on the final touchdown throw of the night, the one that would end up putting the Huskies in position to complete a two-point conversion and complete the 25-24 comeback victory in which they scored 18 points in less than 70 seconds.

And of course they went for the two-point conversion. After all, with your quarterback sick and all the momentum after recovering two onside kicks and scoring two touchdowns, you’re not going to allow overtime to take place.

There’s even video of the incident.

Arizona Republic reporter Scott Obert wrote that Marchiol didn’t celebrate on the field with teammates but instead went directly to the locker room. He was “playing beat up” against a national powerhouse, sacked six times, and fully padded up in Chandler, Ariz., where the temperature remains over 90 degrees well after the sun sets at this time of year.

A postgame photo shows Marchiol laying on the ground, exhausted, with his dad kneeling over him.

A truly gutsy performance. A sick pass for the nasty comeback. All the other jokes you want to make.

No matter how upset his stomach felt, it was nothing like the upset of a 17-point comeback in the final minute of a game.

MSU target, 4-star QB Nicco Marchiol to announce commitment next week

One of the top 2022 quarterback targets for Michigan State is set to announce his commitment next week.

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One of the top 2022 quarterback targets for Michigan State is set to announce his commitment next week.

Nicco Marchiol — a four-star quarterback from Chandler, Ariz. — revealed on Wednesday that he will announce his commitment on June 21 at 3 p.m. EDT. Marchiol was previously committed to Florida State but recently reopened his recruitment, which Michigan State has been very much involved in.

Marchiol is ranked as the No. 23 quarterback and No. 290 overall prospect in the 2022 class 247Sports composite rankings.

Marchiol recently visited Michigan State, and it appears the Spartans will be competing with Arizona State and West Virginia for his talents, according to 247Sports.

This is a prospect that Spartans should keep an eye on, and definitely plan on checking Twitter on June 21 to see where he’ll be committing. Marchiol would be a great get for Michigan State.

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4-star QB and Florida State commit scheduled to visit with Michigan State football

2022 4-star QB and Florida State commit Nicco Marchiol will take an official visit to Michigan State.

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Last week, Michigan State football lost out on a big time recruit they had been recruiting for months when 2022 4-star QB AJ Duffy committed to Florida State. Now, the Spartans have a chance to return the favor.

On Tuesday, 4-star quarterback Nicco Marchiol announced that he would be taking an official visit to Michigan State. Marchiol is currently committed to Florida State, but the addition of Duffy to their recruiting class might have opened an opportunity for his recruitment.

Marchiol is the No. 17 ranked pro style quarterback in his class and the No. 291 ranked player in the 2022 class by the 247Sports rankings.

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Michigan misses cut for 2022 QB target

The Wolverines missed the cut for one of its 2022 quarterback targets.

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Last recruiting cycle, Michigan football locked in its top quarterback target early, securing five-star J.J. McCarthy, who became the linchpin of the 2021 class. However, such is not the case in 2022.

Early, the Wolverines had honed in on Colorado prospect Nicco Marchiol, who since transferred to finish his high school career at Chandler (AZ) Hamilton. His Sept. 14, 2020 top eight featured the maize and blue, but on Friday night, he cut that list in half, and Michigan football did not make the cut.

Now, Marchiol is focused on a final four of Arizona State, Florida, Florida State and Rutgers. 247Sports has him rated as the No. 193 player in the country in 2022/.

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It’s no surprise, given Marchiol’s connection to Ben McDaniels, who is no longer on staff as the Wolverines quarterback coach.

As far as other quarterback targets, Michigan will continue to target Maalik Murphy from Gardena (CA) Junipero Serra and Atlanta (GA) Pace Academy dual-threat MJ Morris.

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