It’s not a rarity for college football coaches to keep their cards close to the vest regarding the status of players or who’s starting.
Heck, Jedd Fisch never publicly flat-out anointed Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita the starter over Jayden de Laura; the Wildcats head coach allowed the transition to organically happen for the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year to take over the reins of the offense — and after time passed, the question didn’t have to be asked.
On Thursday, exactly three weeks from No. 14 Arizona’s matchup with No. 12 Oklahoma in the Valero Alamo Bowl, Sooners head coach Brent Venables, sitting beside Fisch at a news conference in San Antonio, was asked about OU’s starting quarterback for the bowl game, after the departure of two-year starter Dillon Gabriel, who entered the transfer portal early Monday morning.
Gabriel, who transferred from UCF to OU in 2022, is sixth in college football this season with 3,660 yards to go along with 30 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Gabriel’s 14,865 career yards ranks eighth all-time by college quarterbacks, and his 42 all-purpose touchdowns this season leads the Big 12. Gabriel, who has received interest from Oregon and USC, will likely be replaced by five-star freshman Jackson Arnold, but “that hasn’t been finalized yet,” Venables said.
The Sooners also have redshirt sophomore General Booty and Pittsburgh transfer Davis Beville at quarterback, but Arnold will likely be the starter for the Alamo Bowl.
Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) warms up before the Sooners took on TCU Nov. 24, in Norman, Oklahoma.
“I’ll comment on that when it’s the appropriate time,” Venables said. “Dillon has been amazing. He’s obviously played his best football this year. We wouldn’t have put ourselves in this position and had the kind of success we did, certainly the turnaround we did from year one to year two, without Dillon, his leadership, his commitment.
“He made everybody around him better. Really, really thankful and proud of Dillon. Whatever is next for him, I promise you, he’s going to have his hands all over it. It’s going to be a really successful transition for him.”
Venables said Gabriel’s decision to transfer “didn’t have anything to do with” the Sooners looking to potentially start building their offense around Arnold, who was rated by 247Sports as the fourth-best quarterback nationally for the 2023 recruiting class.
“I think Dillon had every intention to go to the NFL,” Venables said. “In his mind, this was going to be his last season. He’s going to have a great year, put himself in a position to go chase his dreams in the NFL. He’s the best person to testify in regards to how he came to the decision to play another year collegiately.
“But quite frankly, we did plan on going into the ‘24 season without Dillon Gabriel,” Venables added. “He knows the uniqueness of the situation. Dillon knows certainly he was more than welcome to stay, continue to compete, be the quarterback at the University of Oklahoma. But that’s just what decision he came to. Like I said, he would be the best person to really go into more depth and detail about what all went into that.”
Venables isn’t sure if losing the player who quarterbacked the fifth-best offense (502.4 yards per game) in college football “makes things difficult” for Oklahoma against the Wildcats.
“I think it gives guys opportunity,” he said. “This is college football. You can’t keep guys forever. Sometimes people on the outside look at change as a bad thing. I look at it just as opportunity. I think we’ve talked about since the Big 12 Media Day back in August, we’ve promoted the competitive depth that we have, that we’ve improved from where we were again a year ago at this time. This is an opportunity for that to show and give guys an opportunity going into the 2024 season experience and confidence and all of those things that they’ll gain through three weeks of practices and an opportunity to compete again in a game.”
Since the portal opened on Monday, 12 players have left OU; Arizona has seven, with Tucson native and safety Cruz Rushing — older brother of former five-star UA defensive end commit Elijah Rushing — as the latest departure. Between the transfer portal, bowl-game prep and the early signing period for high school prospects approaching, “it does present many challenges” for programs juggling all three.
“But whatever challenges it presents Oklahoma, it presents the same thing for everybody else in college football,” Venables said. “So I love a challenge. I’m a competitive person by nature. We’re all for the most part, some people would probably beg to differ, but we play by the same rules. In some ways right now there are no rules. I say that tongue-in-cheek. It’s a very hectic time, but I rely on our staff. ... But other than that, I love putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I’ve always really enjoyed that. Try to find great people. That’s exciting to me. I’ve got amazing appreciation, thankfulness and respect for what it means to be the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and the excellence it’s represented for over a hundred years.
“Every decision I make, when it comes to our current roster, potentially a new player that we’re going to bring into our program, I know everybody’s counting on me to make a right decision. I love that. I love relationships. I love finding great people that also align in the values and the respect and appreciation for all the great things that Oklahoma has to offer.”
Extra points:
Venables, on Arizona’s defense: “They play with incredible passion and energy. I think (linebacker Jacob Manu) leads the Pac-12 in tackles. He’s just disruptive, always around the football. They play with great confidence. They know what they’re doing. They’re very well-coached, fundamentally sound. You’re going to have to earn everything that you get.”
Fisch, on Oklahoma’s defense: “You always know you’re going to get an opportunistic defense. They lead the country in interceptions.You’re going to get a defense that is going to be very hard to figure out their blitz patterns and their schemes.”
Fisch, on Arizona’s mindset in San Antonio: “In the end, we’re here to play a football game. We’re here to play a football game against a team that has historically won seven national championships. We understand and recognize this great challenge. We’re going to try to balance the challenge of competition with the balance of joy.”
Arizona sophomore wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is one of 10 finalists for Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. McMillan, who is the eighth nationally with 1,242 receiving yards, joined Jonah Elliss (Utah), Troy Fautanu (Washington), Taliese Fuaga (Oregon State), Laiatu Latu (UCLA), Jadyn Ott (Cal), Dominick Puni (Kansas), Taulia Tagovailoa (Maryland), J.T. Tuimoloau (Ohio State), and Sione Vaki (Utah) as finalists.
Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch held a news conference this week and discussed the Wildcats ending the regular season 9-3, bowl game prep, coaching contracts and increasing the salary pool, transfer portal and potential bowl opt-outs, among other topics. Video by Justin Spears / Arizona Daily Star
