Oklahoma Sooners Offensive Players to Watch vs Texas
The Texas Longhorns will face the Oklahoma Sooners in their renewal of the Red River Rivalry Game at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on Saturday at 11 a.m.
The game won’t have quite the luster of past years. Neither team is ranked. The Sooners (3-2, 0-2 in Big 12) have lost conference games to Kansas State and to TCU. Texas (3-2, 1-1) has a Big 12 win this year over West Virginia. But the Longhorns also have losses to Alabama and Texas Tech.
The Sooners have new management with head coach Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, previously at Ole Miss. Lebby was the offensive coordinator at UCF before joining Ole Miss, and with the Knights he worked with Sooners starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Gabriel’s concussion against TCU puts the starting quarterback job in flux. It may not be clear until Saturday morning who starts.
With that in mind, here are a few offensive players to watch for the Sooners when they face the Longhorns.
Be sure to stick with Longhornscountry.com as we preview every aspect of the matchup with the Sooners throughout the week
RB Eric Gray
Gray has given the position some consistency after the departure of Kennedy Brooks, who rushed for 1,253 yards and 13 touchdowns last season and, in essence, blocked the Tennessee transfer from more playing time. Gray rushed for 412 yards and four touchdowns last year. He’s already exceeded that total this year. He has 460 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 7.0 yards per carry. Now, as many expected, Jovantae Barnes is nipping at his heels. But, so far, Gray has 22 more carries and twice as many yards. This is the kind of role Gray had hoped for when he transferred before the 2021 season.
WR Marvin Mims
Mims is well on his way to blowing past last year’s production as the passing game’s No. 1 option. He has 22 receptions for 438 yards and three touchdowns in five games, after a 2021 campaign in which he caught 32 passes for 705 yards and five touchdowns last season, which was third-best for the Sooners. The transfers of Jadon Haselwood (Arkansas) and Mario Williams (USC) opened the door for him to increase his production and he’s done it. He has twice as many receptions as any other Sooner this season.
QB Dillon Gabriel
First, we have to assume that Gabriel will start. If he doesn’t the job could fall to Davis Beville. That would be a significant blow for the Sooners. Gabriel, up until the injury, had been as advertised after he threw for more than 8,000 yards and 70 touchdowns at UCF. In five games, he’s thrown for 1,215 yards and 11 touchdowns. More importantly, no interceptions. He’s produced at a high level. If he doesn’t play, there’s no telling if Beville can pick up the slack.
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