Oklahoma football: OU QB Dillon Gabriel on Maxwell Award watch

We’re now entering the silly season in college football when the flood of preseason national award watch lists are revealed, and Oklahoma football is typically well represented on these lists.

The first of the major award watch lists was issued on Monday with the reveal for the prestigious Maxwell Award, which recognizes the best college football player every season.

Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel is one of 85 FBS college players named to the 2022 Maxwell Award watch list. Earlier this month, the junior Sooner quarterback, who transferred to Oklahoma this offseason, was named the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year.

Gabriel threw for over 8,000 yards and 70 touchdowns with just 14 interceptions in just a little over two seasons at UCF. His final season there, in 2021 was cut short at the beginning of the season by an injury. At the end of last season, he announced he was transferring to UCLA, but he decommitted from UCLA just a day before enrollment started for the spring semester and instead signed as a transfer with Oklahoma.

At OU, Gabriel is being reunited with Sooner offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who was the OC at UCF in Gabriel’s freshman season in 2019.

Three former Sooners have won the Maxwell Award since it was first introduced in 1937: Tommy McDonald in 1956, Jason White in 2004 and Baker Mayfield in 2017.

The Maxwell Award is considered one of the highest individual awards in college football. The winner of the award is often the winner of the Heisman Trophy. Forty-two quarterbacks are preseason candidates for the award this season.