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Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel Among Nominees for Top QB Award

The Sooners' returning starter has a chance to rank among the most prolific quarterbacks in college football history.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel Among Nominees for Top QB Award
Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel Among Nominees for Top QB Award /
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Dillon Gabriel has landed on another preseason watch list.

Oklahoma’s senior quarterback is among 35 players nominated for this year’s award that goes to the best quarterback in college football.

Previously, Gabriel was nominated for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the nation’s top overall player.

Two former OU quarterbacks — Wisconsin’s Tanner Mordecai and reining Heisman Trophy winner and O’Brien finalist Caleb Williams of USC — are also on the list. A total of five players from the Big 12 Conference were nominated, including Kansas’ Jason Daniels, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Kansas State’s Will Howard and UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee.

Gabriel transferred to OU from Central Florida last year and led the Sooners to a 6-7 record, although he missed OU’s 49-0 loss to Texas due to a concussion.

Gabriel is a returning starter at OU and one of the most prolific active QBs in college football.

Gabriel ranks third nationally among active QBs in passing yards per game (294.9) and is second in total offense per game (312.9). He’s also fourth nationally with 11,205 passing yards and fourth with 95 touchdown passes.

OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby — who coached Gabriel as a freshman at UCF in 2019 — said he expects Gabriel to finish his career in the all-time top 10 among FBS quarterbacks statistically at the end of the 2023 season. Gabriel could climb even higher on the NCAA career lists, as he has the option to play another season in 2024.

The O'Brien Award is the latest of 16 watch lists this preseason to be revealed by the National College Football Awards Association.

For the first time in 2023, the NCFAA will package and brand national players of the week as 12 awards are set to unveil weekly honors each Tuesday this season. The first announcements will come on Wednesday, Sept. 6.

The NCFAA's annual showcase, The Home Depot College Football Awards, will air live on ESPN in early December with the exact date to be announced shortly.

The preseason watch lists for 2023 with OU players who have been nominated:

NCFAA Watch Lists

  • Mon., July 31: Maxwell Award (top player; Dillon Gabriel)
  • Tue., Aug 1: Outland Trophy (top lineman) and Bronko Nagurski Trophy (defensive player; Danny Stutsman)
  • Wed., Aug. 2: Lou Groza Award (kicker) and Ray Guy Award (punter; Luke Elzinga)
  • Thu., Aug. 3: Paul Hornung Award (all-purpose) and Wuerffel Trophy (citizenship; Ethan Downs)
  • Fri., Aug. 4: Mackey Award (tight end; Austin Stogner) and Rimington Trophy (center)
  • Mon., Aug. 7: Biletnikoff Award (receiver)
  • Tue., Aug. 8: Davey O'Brien Award (quarterback; Dillon Gabriel)
  • Wed., Aug. 9: Doak Walker Award (running back)
  • Thu., Aug. 10: Butkus Award (linebacker) and Jim Thorpe Award (defensive back)
  • Fri., Aug. 11: Walter Camp Award (top player)
  • Mon., Aug. 14: Bednarik Award (defensive player)
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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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