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Brent Venables praises Dillon Gabriel for his leadership: 'He's an assassin'

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby:Kaiden Smith•09/11/22•

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(Bahr/Getty Images)

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables had some big praise for his quarterback Dillon Gabriel following their 33-3 win over Kent State.

“He’s an assassin, it’s not his first rodeo he’s been around the game lines and he’s just a ball junkie. He’s a great leader, the game comes easy to him in so many ways,” Venables said.

The Sooners had a slow start in their last game, heading into halftime only up 7-3 to the Golden Flashes. But they picked things up in the second half, led by Gabriel’s 296 yards and three touchdown performance on the day. Venables talked about Gabriel’s mentality and leadership, which was on display this weekend as he brought the Sooner offense back to life after halftime.

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“But his best attribute is he never gets too high or too low, he’s the same guy,” Venables explained. “Every once in a while he’ll have a nice smile when he makes a big time play, but he’s the same guy every day like nonstop. That’s what we said, just be who you are, nothing more nothing less. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we gotta take what’s there and his leadership is a big part of that.”

Teams rely on the leadership of the quarterback in tough moments, and the Sooners were certainly in one as they were on upset alert for half of their last matchup. But Gabriel stepped up to the plate, and Venables touched on the qualities he put on display in those moments.

“Not pointing a finger, not getting mad at the play caller, or getting mad at the o-line, or getting mad at receivers, pushing the blame. It’s easy under stress to do something like that, but he’s a great leader, he’s got great qualities and poise is one of his best qualities he has.” Venables said.

Venables made it clear Gabriel has all the intangibles, and his on the field play has spoken for itself this season, and it will be interesting to see how far the Sooners can take the leadership of their new coach and quarterback the rest of the season.