All Sooners

Oklahoma TE Brayden Willis Added College Quarterback to his Resumé Against Nebraska

The super senior uncorked a 24-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter of OU's romp over the Cornhuskers on Saturday.

Ryan Chapman

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LINCOLN, NE — Football karma struck again in Lincoln on Saturday.

Two weeks after Oklahoma tight end Brayden Willis caught a pair of touchdown passes, he found another way to put points on the board.

The Sooners (3-0) were already up 21-7 early in the second quarter against Nebraska (1-3), but offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby dug into his bag of tricks.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel caught the snap and immediately turned to his left, rifling the ball out to Willis behind the line of scrimmage.

Willis took a step back and looked downfield, connecting on a 24-yard touchdown pass with Marcus Major to suck the air out of Memorial Stadium and further swing momentum into OU’s favor.

Though he didn’t get the passing touchdown for himself, Gabriel was fired up about the play call en route to the 49-14 OU victory. 

“Love it,” Gabriel said after the game. “I think (Willis) dialed up a good throw. It got there and he completed it. That’s a great thing.

“We just have a lot of belief in Coach Leb and the staff and what they dial up for us. We just go out and do it to the best of our ability. When you do your job well and right, good things will happen.”

Willis played a bit of quarterback in high school, but Lebby said the play didn’t go according to plan when he installed it during fall camp.

“We threw it one time in fall camp and he threw it about 13 yards over his head, so I was a little uptight about it,” Lebby said with a smile after the game. “But I felt good about it. He was good in practice all week, and he did a great job of getting it out of his hand. Then Marcus (Major) made a great play, so that was good.”

The Oklahoma tight end had a different recollection of how the play went when he tried it in fall camp, but he was happy Lebby gave him another shot to win the trick-play quarterback job before the Sooners burned the play in a game.

“It was batted down,” Willis said. “I waited a little bit too long, the timing was off, but I told coach, ‘the arm talent's there, the timing was just off,' so I think that might've been a little exaggeration.

“But seriously, though, I'm glad he gave me another opportunity and I'm glad I was able to complete it and get a touchdown off of it.”

Once the play was called, Willis said he didn’t have any thoughts about the camp snafu. He was just focused on delivering a ball Major could go make a play on.

“I've got full confidence in my teammate, so I know he's going to snag that thing,” Willis said. “He wanted the touchdown just as bad as I did so I had full confidence in my guy.”

The double pass was indicative of how Oklahoma’s day went offensively against the ‘Huskers.

OU got just about anything they wanted, running for 312 yards and throwing for an additional 268 yards through the air.

Willis himself also had four catches for 19 yards as well as doing his part opening up running lanes on the ground.

Now, the Sooners will turn their sights to conference play as they host a Kansas State team fresh off a shocking upset loss to the Tulane Green Wave.

Oklahoma’s Big 12 opener will kickoff at 7 p.m. next Saturday, and the game will be broadcast on FOX.

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Ryan Chapman
RYAN CHAPMAN

Ryan is deputy editor at AllSooners and covers a number of sports in and around Norman and Oklahoma City. Working both as a journalist and a sports talk radio host, Ryan has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the United States Men’s National Soccer Team, the Oklahoma City Energy and more. Since 2019, Ryan has simultaneously pursued a career as both a writer and a sports talk radio host, working for the Flagship for Oklahoma sports, 107.7 The Franchise, as well as AllSooners.com. Ryan serves as a contributor to The Franchise’s website, TheFranchiseOK.com, which was recognized as having the “Best Website” in 2022 by the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. Ryan holds an associate’s degree in Journalism from Oklahoma City Community College in Oklahoma City, OK. 

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