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Oklahoma Football unveils depth chart for Week 1 vs. Arkansas State

Stephen Samraby: Steve Samra08/29/23SamraSource

As the Oklahoma Sooners and Brent Venables prepare for their Week 1 showdown with Arkansas State on Saturday, they’ve released their official depth chart.

The Sooners are hoping Year 2 is better than Year 1 for Venables, which also figures to be Oklahoma’s final hurrah in the Big 12. The Red Wolves provide a beatable opponent for the Sooners, and here’s how their team will look entering the showdown.

Alas, this season’s Oklahoma team will have the mission of attempting to make everyone forget about what happened in 2022.

There was a ton of hype behind the Sooners in Venables’ first season, and things definitely didn’t go according to plan. Now with the SEC looming large in 2024, Oklahoma needs to get their act together, or it’ll get worse before it gets better in Norman.

Time will tell, but Saturday provides a fresh start. The Sooners can begin the season on a high note, and many are expecting them to do just that.

Brent Venables details where Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel stands ahead of 2023 season

Oklahoma is hoping to sweep 2022’s 6-7 season under the rug entering year two of the Brent Venables era, and everyone is looking toward starting quarterback Dillon Gabrielfor leadership as the Sooners pull themselves out of the mud.

The one thing that sets Gabriel apart from the rest of the quarterback room, and rest of his team for that matter, is experience. 

“He’s no different than any other player, but he has played a lot of football,” Venables saidof his quarterback. “When he does make a mistake, he’s quick to know it and knows how to fix it. The biggest thing for a quarterback is accuracy and making good decisions in both pre and post snap. Relying on the experience that he has, he can make a lot of good decisions post-snap.

“But he’s done great. He has led well and they’re still going through an aggressive stage of installation but he has handled everything well.”

Three and a half seasons of experience being a starting quarterback at the collegiate level under your belt is what Gabriel brings to Oklahoma’s offense in 2023. Last season was his first in Norman, and he put up strong numbers having thrown for 3,168 yards and 25 touchdowns compared to six interceptions to go along with a 62.7% completion percentage.

Before that, he began his career at UCF in 2019, where during his first two years Gabriel threw for 7,223 yards and 61 touchdowns while completing 59.7% of his passes during that span. Prior to his injury in 2021 that ultimately led to his transfer, he went 70-for-102 passing for 818 yards and nine touchdowns through three games for Malzahn’s Knights.