Jackson Arnold enters game, burns redshirt after Dillon Gabriel leaves with injury

According to Chris Plank of the Oklahoma radio team, starting QB Dillon Gabriel is out for the moment with a head injury and the Sooners are having to turn to true freshman QB Jackson Arnold in the second half of their game against BYU.

Here was a tweet from On3’s George Stoia noting Plank’s update:

“According to @PlankShow, Jackson Arnold will start the second half for the #Sooners. Gabriel has a head injury. Wow.”

Just minutes after that update, the ESPN broadcast passed along the word that Gabriel was likely done for the afternoon. Here was that report from sideline reporter Quint Kessenich:

“News in terms of Dillon Gabriel for Mike Houck, their director of sports information at Oklahoma. Dillon Gabriel is injured and unlikely to return to action today,” he said.

Bad news for an Oklahoma team locked in a tight battle at BYU.

Due to the situation with Gabriel, Arnold is now entering his fifth game of the season, thus burning his redshirt for good for this season. Remember, if a player participates in four or fewer games in a season, he can still retain his redshirt. With Arnold getting action in game No. 5 on the year, that possibility is out the window, at least for 2023.

However, recruits like Arnold typically don’t stick around in college long enough to justify even taking a redshirt year. He came into Norman as the crown jewel of the Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class, ranking as a five-star prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings. He was also rated the No. 8 overall recruit and No. 4 quarterback in the cycle.

Brent Venables comments on Dillon Gabriel’s future

While the assumption might be that 2023 might be Gabriel’s last in college football, Venables is not completely shutting the door. When asked if Gabriel could return next year, Venables said there had not been any conversations about it. However, he did note his quarterback’s improvement year over year.

“We haven’t had those conversations,” Venables said. “He’s played a long time, he’s been through a lot. I think a year ago, the talk was ‘He had a good year, why would you want to come back? You could come back and have a bad year.’ But what’s he done? He’s come back and had an even better year.

“He’s played a lot of college football. He’s had to overcome some injuries… We haven’t talked about that, though.”

If he wanted to return, you would have to assume Gabriel would be a welcomed presence. Oklahoma is making the transition into the SEC and having an experienced quarterback would be a plus for the program. Not having to bring along a new starter would likely raise the ceiling of their 2024 record.