A reminder what the Sooners lost, Dillon Gabriel is a Heisman finalist

A year ago, Oklahoma was ready to move on from Dillon Gabriel as its quarterback. Today, he's a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

Gabriel on Monday was announced as a Heisman Trophy finalist along with Colorado receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty and Miami (FL) quarterback Cam Ward.

In his first and only season at Oregon, Gabriel has led the Ducks to a Big Ten title and the No. 1 seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff. He's thrown for 3,558 yards and 28 TDs compared to only six interceptions and has the second-highest QBR in the country at 86.5. He's also in the top 10 in the nation in passing yards and TDs.

Before getting to Oregon, Gabriel was OU's starting quarterback for two seasons after transferring from UCF, where he played for three seasons. This is Gabriel's sixth season of college football.

Gabriel was 16-9 at OU while passing for 6,828 yards and 55 TDs. The Sooners were 10-2 under Gabriel last season as he had 3,660 passing yards and 30 TDs, and at one point was a Heisman candidate again after leading a fourth-quarter drive to beat Texas in the Red River Rivalry.

But Gabriel was only supposed to be a bridge to what was next. He was buying time until hot shot five-star recruit Jackson Arnold could come in to take over and lead the Sooners into the SEC.

With Gabriel gone to the portal, Arnold made his first career start as a freshman in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona and turned the ball over five times. He started 2024 as QB1 before losing the starting job Week 4 to freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. He then won the job back four weeks later, ultimately starting nine games this season.

Now, a year after Arnold was set to replace Gabriel as the future of OU instead of being a short-term rental, Arnold is in the transfer portal looking for his next destination. The Sooners will either again need to turn to a young quarterback or search the transfer portal for another veteran like Gabriel.

OU's 2024 offense was not a situation for any quarterback to find success, let alone a developing sophomore. But an experienced five-year quarterback could have only helped the transition into a new era of the SEC and a new offensive coordinator.

OU coach Brent Venables said this season that the plan was always for Gabriel to be in the NFL at this point. But after a poor draft evaluation, Gabriel opted for a sixth season of college football. So when Gabriel sat in Venables' office last December and admitted his plan of going closer to his home state of Hawaii for his final season, Venables claims to be blindsided.

Venables randomly brought up the situation at one point during a press conference this season after a column was written about OU letting Gabriel walk as he thrived in Eugene and there wasn't a functioning offense in Norman.

“You can't make a guy stay – the guy’s trying to find the next thing, the next chapter for him,” Venables said then. “I'm sure there was probably some disappointment that he wasn't more highly thought of in the NFL. (He) had an amazing year and is a fantastic quarterback.

"But there was nobody running nobody off or things like that. I've always – the veterans are good – I think I've always said that the experienced player can do a little more than sometimes the young guys. But that's neither here nor there. But I did want to make sure we cleared that up.”

Regardless, Venables let Gabriel get away. OU was entering its first season in the SEC, famous for physical defenses and hostile envirnoments. Venables hired a new offensive coodinator after the one who recruited Arnold to play in the same offense he did in high school took the head coaching job at Mississippi State.

This was a time for experience and stability for the Sooners. Yet, it's a different OU now reaping the benefits of a talented and experienced quarterback during a new era.