Dillon Gabriel focusing on pocket presence during offseason

For Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel, there wasn’t much to prove during the Sooners’ spring practices.

However, there were a lot of areas he wanted to improve.

The fifth-year senior still holds the reins on his starting job entering next season. But after some struggles last season, he knew he needed to focus on his presence in the pocket during spring practices.

“I think as we've worked on it, and that being a point of emphasis, (it’s) has really helped me in general going through progressions and seeing the different coverages for those plays,” Gabriel said after the Sooners’ spring game last month. “Like I said, it starts there, and it starts with me, and I think with that approach it really helped me.”

Gabriel showed flashes of better pocket presence during the spring game.

It was a slow start for Gabriel and the Sooners’ offense in the first quarter but the second quarter is where he found his rhythm, using his running ability to extend plays and find positive yards. He ran three times for 29 yards, and he appeared more comfortable running the ball.

Gabriel showed his potential as a runner last season with career highs across the board in carries (89), yards (315) and rushing touchdowns (6), and his 66-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter against Nebraska was pivotal in helping the Sooners take control of the game. But as the team entered conference play, Gabriel was hesitant at times to utilize his running ability.

Part of that hesitancy stemmed from the Sooners’ lack of quarterback depth. But with five-star prospect Jackson Arnold in the fold, OU coach Brent Venables hinted that designed quarterback runs could be a bigger part of the team’s offense in 2023.

“We'll still continue to evaluate, but we do feel better about our quarterback situation obviously,” Venables said. “And Dillon has shown last year several times the ability to escape pressure and make plays and improvise. But designed quarterback runs will be something that we'll carry into every game, I would imagine."

Of course, working on his pocket presence doesn’t just involve his running ability. It’s also about his ability to see plays down the field.

Gabriel showed better patience in allowing plays to develop. His first touchdown of the spring game came after Jalil Farooq created separation down the field.

On his second touchdown, he found tight end Blake Smith wide open in the end zone.

On his third touchdown, he found a wide-open Gavin Sawchuk out of the backfield on a nice play design from OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.

Gabriel finished the game with 140 yards and three touchdowns on 11-of-17 passing in just two quarters of play.

“Through 15 practices, we wanted to clean a couple of things up fundamentally like slowing him down in the pocket, being a little better protectionally and being able to get us in the right protections in certain situations,” Lebby said of Gabriel. “He's taken unbelievable ownership in that, which has been great to see. There's been great growth on the grass with him, being able to take the meeting room to the field. I'm proud of his growth.

“We had a very narrow vision of what it needed to look like through 15 practices. Very pointed, very direct. He was able to accomplish a lot of what we wanted through 15 practices.”

There’s still a long ways to go before the Sooners begin fall camp, but Gabriel is confident he improved during the spring.

“I think the main thing that let us have a successful spring is just figuring out what I need to get better at and just verbalizing it but then also seeing it every day, reading that typically before every practice,” Gabriel said. “But just having that in the back of my head every time I’m playing has helped me a lot. Also just seeing it come to fruition in my play, it’s a great feeling. Just having that and coach Lebby and how we were able to build that out, it helped me big time.”