Some eye-opening names entered the transfer portal this morning.
How about Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel?
Yep. In the transfer portal. Entered it Monday morning, according to several reports, this one from ESPN (Oklahoma starting QB Dillon Gabriel enters transfer portal).
Joining Gabriel in the transfer portal, this one maybe not quite as surprising, because of the criticism they received after their ONE LOSS this year: Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord (Ohio State starting QB Kyle McCord enters transfer portal).
Also taking off, in a bit of a surprise: Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes, who did an admirable job even keeping the Utes afloat with Cam Rising (is that a wrestler?) recovering from a torn ACL injury in last year’s Rose Bowl.
Gabriel appears to spend more time in a transfer portal than Captain Kirk did in the transporter. This is his second time to transfer. The quarterback, 22, already moved from Central Florida to OU, and now he’s shipping off again, this time to who knows where.
Makes you wonder if Mr. Gabriel didn’t want to play in the Southeastern Conference? That’s where the Sooners will be next season. He’ll have one year of eligibility left. He was going to lose his offensive coordinator, for sure: Jeff Lebby just accepted the head coaching job at Mississippi State.
Hey, waitaminute… you don’t think…
At any rate, Gabriel completed 266-of-384 (69 percent) for 3,660 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions. He was sacked 16 times.
He was tied for the eighth-most touchdowns in major college football with (ironically) former OU quarterback and Heisman Trophy-winner Caleb Williams, now, of course, at Southern Cal.
The Sooners finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, and assumedly will take on Arizona (9-3) in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Dec. 28 without Gabriel or Lebby.
McCord led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record, and they were even ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings for a couple of weeks, slipping back to No. 2 after Georgia dominated a top-12 team in Ole Miss, and then won at Tennessee.
But McCord, coach Ryan Day and Ohio State have taken criticism for losing to rival Michigan for three straight years, even though that was their only loss of the season. The Buckeyes will take on Missouri in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
McCord, a junior, went 229-of-348 for 3,170 yards, 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in the 2023 season.
Utah got 1,517 yards, 12 touchdowns and had 9 interceptions from Barnes this season, in which the Utes went 8-4. Barnes is an in-state junior.
The Utes will play Northwestern (7-5) in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl at (where else?) Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play, on Dec. 23.
The news here is that Nate Johnson, another quarterback at Utah, is also transferring after Rising announced he will return for another season. Rising’s rehab continued throughout the year, as he never returned from the torn ACL, and Rising will have another year of eligibility.
Over the last week other names that have entered the portal have included Oregon State quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei (who transferred once already from Clemson, as he and Gabriel are trying to win the 2024 J.T. Daniels Transfer Award, apparently), Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, and Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough.
