Oklahoma football: How another OU QB can impact 2022 Playoff race
By Chip Rouse
Every college football season is full of preseason assumptions. Who are the College Football Playoff contenders? Who are the leaders in the Heisman race? What does the top 25 look like? Oklahoma football is entering a new era in 2022 but is once again part of that narrative.
All of the major college teams are back hard at work this month and the college football staff at ESPN.com is busy filling the news void by compiling top-50 lists of this and top-150 lists of that. all designed to feed the craving appetite of college fans as the start of a new season is almost here.
One such list recently posted on the popular cable sports network’s website is “The 25 Most Important Players in 2022’s College Football Playoff Race.”
In recent seasons, we’ve come to see an Oklahoma starting quarterback as standard issue on one of these lists. The Sooner quarterbacks haven’t been able to finish the job, but they’ve been big winners in the Heisman race, carting home the prized trophy in back-to-back years (2017 and 2018) and finishing as runner-up the year after that (2019.
ESPN college football writer Bill Connelly informs readers that every college season there are known stars and unknown stars, but it is largely the latter that determine what we will remember about the season and how the national championship race plays out. That is what the 25 most important players list is all about.
This year, another Oklahoma quarterback graces the top 10 in Connelly’s list of the 25 most important players predicted to play big roles in the college football national title hunt.
Connelly ranks OU’s Dillon Gabriel as the No. 6 player on this list and one of the most important transfer players. Gabriel comes to Oklahoma after two-plus seasons at UCF, one of which he played for new Sooner offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.
Interestingly, for Oklahoma fans, Gabriel ranks one spot higher than former Sooner QB Caleb Williams, who transferred to USC after the 2021 season. Another former OU quarterback, Spencer Rattler, who along with Williams was part of the 2021 Oklahoma roster, ranks No, 23 on the list. Now at South Carolina, Rattler was No. 7 in this same top-25 ranking a year ago.
Connelly says the reason Gabriel ranks higher than former OU QB Williams is because Oklahoma’s overall roster is readier for a title run than USC’s. Here is an excerpt of what Connelly has to say about Gabriel:
"“Gabriel inherits a lovely skill corps (with receivers Marvin Mims Theo Wease and Arizona State transfer LV Bunkley-Shelton and running back Eric Gray) and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh almost always features an excellent offensive front. He is set up to succeed.”"
If Oklahoma is able to win the 2022 Big 12 championship and get back to the College Football Playoff, Gabriel will undoubtedly play a key role, but so too will a host of other Sooner players, not just on offense but on defensively, as well.