Oklahoma Position Preview: Quarterback

On April 23, Dillon Gabriel completed his first spring at Oklahoma by lighting up Memorial Stadium.

Since that blustery day, the Oklahoma quarterback room has undergone important modifications.

Already sitting on an early enrollee in true freshman Nick Evers, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby added one other arrival by way of the NCAA Switch Portal, then added a junior school switch.

2022 Oklahoma Place Previews

Gabriel remains to be the starter, identical to when he performed for each the Pink staff and the White staff and related on 19-of-28 passes for 280 yards and a landing.

However Lebby must confidently determine Gabriel’s backup as shortly as doable as soon as coaching camp begins.

Is it Davis Beville? Beville performed three years at Pittsburgh, was a spot backup final 12 months, and introduced on March 24 that he was getting into the switch portal. On Could 9, Beville broke the information that he was transferring to OU.

Or is it Common Booty? Booty lit up the junior school ranks at Tyler Junior Faculty final season, then on Could 14 — simply 5 days after Beville’s announcement — that he was headed to Norman.

Gabriel, 6-foot, 205 kilos, was declared the Sooners’ starter primarily the day Caleb Williams loaded his trailer and left the OU campus. Williams entered the portal on Jan. 3, and truly lingered in Norman for one more month earlier than transferring to USC.

However it was no secret Williams was leaving — particularly after Gabriel dedicated to OU additionally on Jan. 3 — which explains Lebby and Brent Venables’ dedication to Gabriel.

After Oklahoma’s spring recreation, Venables appeared overly happy with that dedication.

“Such a selfless man,” Venables stated. “The sport’s straightforward for him in so some ways. Good choice maker. Fast choice maker. Performs with nice anticipation. And it was actually windy. Once you’re down on that discipline man, that is like a cyclone down there. And it is exhausting to throw a superb ball into that wind. However did a very good job.”

The left-hander and a pair of 1/2-year starter at Central Florida confirmed his broad command of Lebby’s offense — and his eagerness to get higher.

“I believe there’s lots to wash up,” Gabriel stated after the Pink/White Recreation. “There’s numerous issues I want I had executed otherwise and cleaned up. However the good half is, there’s simply numerous studying experiences from that, situational soccer that we will be taught from. Two-minute, third downs, regardless of the case could also be. So I look ahead to watching it. Simply diving deeper into it and simply studying from it.”

Gabriel is coming off a damaged collarbone simply three video games into final 12 months, so marking his backup shortly might be a massively essential endeavor.

However Lebby might must clear some house within the quarterback room first.

Keep in mind, former Penn State switch Micah Bowens is again for his second 12 months with the Sooners. And walk-on Ralph Rucker, who gained the third-team job behind Williams and Spencer Rattler final 12 months, returned.

That’s six QBs Lebby has in his toolbox.

Gabriel’s 8,037 profession yards and 70 profession passing touchdowns converse for themselves. However Gabriel doesn’t thoughts talking for Evers, the freshman from Flower Mound, TX, who had been dedicated to Florida earlier than a training change in Gainesville.

Whilst Lebby continues to fortify the QB room with transfers and recruits the longer term (5-star 2023 QB Jackson Arnold is thought to be among the finest 5 highschool prospects within the nation), Evers is determining his place on the roster — and Gabriel, for one, is impressed.

“I believe going by way of the method myself of being an early enrollee, there’s numerous ups and downs,” Gabriel stated. “You’re an 18-year-old, away from household, making an attempt to determine life, making an attempt to determine faculty. After which in the meantime making an attempt to determine soccer. Managing all that, I’ve bought numerous respect for him as a result of I’ve been by way of that course of. However he’s tremendous gifted. He can throw it. He can do something you ask of him. And he continues to assault each single day whatever the ups and downs.”

Bowens, from Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman soccer manufacturing facility, has the ability to play at OU. Perhaps he climbs the depth chart as Lebby’s backup. Or perhaps Lebby devises a particular package deal to make the most of his pace and elusiveness. Or perhaps Bowens switches positions to get his 5-foot-11, 187-pound body on the sphere someplace.

Booty is an intriguing prospect after finishing 233-of-381 passes for 3,115 yards and 25 touchdowns with 11 interceptions final 12 months final Tyler. The 6-3, 194-pound Booty has the arm, the pedigree and positively the cool identify to mild up the Memorial Stadium scoreboard.

Beville is likely to be probably the most intriguing prospect of the candidates to again up Gabriel. At 6-6 and 235 kilos, the fourth-year junior from Greenville, SC, performed in simply three video games for the Panthers final season as a backup to first-round draft decide Kenny Pickett.

However Pickett opted out of the bowl recreation, and when backup Nick Patti was injured, Beville completed the Peach Bowl loss to Michigan State by finishing 14-of-18 passes for 149 yards with one landing and one interception (a game-clinching decide six within the closing seconds).

Venables stated after the spring recreation that including a switch quarterback was a possible offseason precedence, and it didn’t linger even three weeks earlier than the Sooners added two.

Now, the plain query — who’s the backup? — doesn’t but have an apparent reply.