From the Big 12 Conference
Ollie Gordon II is the third Cowboy to capture Offensive Player of the Year, joining Chuba Hubbard (2019) and Justin Blackmon (2010)-all three of whom were honored in their sophomore season. This is the fourth time a running back has won the award in five seasons, joining Hubbard and Breece Hall (ISU, 2020 and 2021).
Mike Gundy has been named Chuck Neinas Big 12 Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons. In addition to 2021 and 2023, he won the award in 2010. He joins Matt Campbell (Iowa State), Bill Snyder (Kansas State) and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) as three-time winners of the award.
Six Sooners Earn All-Big 12 Football Honors
NORMAN — University of Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel was voted a unanimous All-Big 12 selection and was joined on the All-Big 12 First Team by wide receiver Drake Stoops, defensive back Billy Bowman and linebacker Danny Stutsman, the conference office announced Wednesday. Selections were made by the league’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players.
Offensive lineman Andrew Raym and defensive lineman Ethan Downs were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team. Downs was also a second-team All-Big 12 selection last season and Gabriel was the 2022 Newcomer of the Year. This is the first All-Big 12 honor for Bowman, Stoops, Stutsman and Raym.
Gabriel, a redshirt senior from Mililani, Hawai’i, leads the Big 12 and ranks in the top 10 nationally in passing offense (305.0 yards per game; sixth nationally), passing efficiency (172.0; sixth), passing touchdowns (30; sixth), passing yards (3,660; fifth), and points responsible for per game (21.0; third). He also ranks second in the Big 12 in completion percentage (69.3; 10th nationally) and yards per pass attempt (9.5; seventh nationally) and fifth in the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns (12). He has accounted for 42 total touchdowns this season, and his 12 rushing TDs lead the team and are tied for second nationally among quarterbacks. Gabriel ranks seventh in FBS history with his 14,865 career passing yards and eighth in FBS history with his 125 career passing touchdowns.
Stoops, a sixth-year player from Norman, leads the Big 12 in receptions (78) and touchdown receptions (10) and ranks third in receiving yards (880) and receiving yards per game (73.3). He has three 100-yard receiving games this season and has notched at least 10 catches three times in the last four contests. Over the last four games, he has totaled 38 catches (second most nationally) for 486 yards (121.5 per game) and five touchdowns. He has notched at least one reception in 21 straight games, multiple catches in 20 straight games and at least four receptions in 15 of the last 19 contests. He has at least four catches in 11 of 12 games and has registered at least six receptions six times this season. He ranks 10th in program history in career catches (158), tied for 12th in TD receptions (17) and 13th in receiving yards (1,794).
Stutsman, a junior from Windermere, Fla., leads the Sooners with 99 total tackles (ranks second in the Big 12 with 9.0 tackles per game) despite missing one-and-a-half games due to injury. He ranks second in the conference in tackles for loss (16) and is second on the squad in sacks (3.0). He has one interception (returned for a touchdown at Tulsa), two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, two pass breakups and a QB hurry. Stutsman has led the Sooners in tackles in eight of 12 games and has logged at least nine tackles six times and double-digit tackles four times.
Bowman, a junior from Denton, Texas, leads the Big 12 with six interceptions (one shy of the national lead) and established single-season school records for interceptions returned for touchdowns (nation-leading three) and interception return yardage (nation-leading 238). His 100-yard interception return at BYU two games ago was just the third in OU history. Additionally, Bowman ranks second on the team with his 61 total tackles and has four pass breakups and three tackles for loss. He has notched at least five tackles six times, including in each of the last five contests.
Downs, a junior from Weatherford, Okla., was OU’s lone preseason All-Big 12 selection and leads the team with 4.5 sacks and six QB hurries. He has totaled 28 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and one interception this season. His six tackles against UCF tied a career high and his 2.0 sacks against Texas established a career best.
Raym, a senior center from Broken Arrow, Okla., anchors an offense that leads the Big 12 and ranks in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense (43.2 points per game; third nationally), total offense (502.4 yards per game; fourth), passing offense (242.2 yards per game; sixth) and passing efficiency (172.1; fourth). The O-line has paved the way for an OU offensive unit that has gained more than 500 total yards five times this season (more than 600 yards three times), passed for more than 300 yards on six occasions (more than 400 yards four times) and rushed for more than 200 yards five times.
Several Sooners also earned honorable mention recognition (at least one vote) at their respective positions and/or for individual awards: Gabriel (offensive player of the year), Bowman (defensive player of the year), Downs (defensive lineman of the year), Raym (offensive lineman of the year), Nic Anderson (offensive freshman of the year; wide receiver), Kip Lewis (defensive freshman of the year; linebacker), Jalil Farooq (wide receiver; kick returner/punt returner), Rondell Bothroyd and Isaiah Coe (defensive line), Kendel Dolby, Woodi Washington and Gentry Williams (defensive back), Tyler Guyton, McKade Mettauer and Walter Rouse (offensive line), Gavin Sawchuk and Tawee Walker (running back) and Gavin Freeman (kick returner/punt returner).
Oklahoma has placed at least four players on the All-Big 12 First Team in 21 of 24 seasons since 2000 and has boasted at least one all-conference player every season since 1926 (96 years). OU has only had one season when playing in a conference without first-team honors (1925), marking 107 of 108 seasons.
Other Team Honors
T’Vondre Sweat is the sixth Longhorn recipient of Defensive Player of the Year, and the first since Malik Jefferson in 2017. Sweat is the second consecutive defensive lineman to win the award after K-State’s Felix Anudike-Uzomah a year ago. Casey Hampton (2000), Derrick Johnson (2004), Brian Orakpo (2007) and Jackson Jeffcoat (2013) represent the other Texas winners of the award.
Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell becomes the first Texas player to be voted as Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
Defensive lineman Austin Booker is the second Jayhawk to be named Defensive Newcomer of the Year, and the first since Isaiah Johnson in 2013.
Rocco Becht joins Mike Warren (2015) as Iowa State players to be named Offensive Freshman of the Year. Becht is the first quarterback winner of the award since 2019.
Anthony Hill Jr. is the eighth Texas winner of Defensive Freshman of the Year and the first since 2018. He joins Cory Redding (1999), Derrick Johnson (2001), Rodrique Wright (2002), Brian Orakpo (2005), Quandre Diggs (2011), Malik Jefferson (2015) and Caden Sterns (2018) as Longhorns to win the award.
Ben Roberts is the second Texas Tech player to be honored as Defensive Freshman of the Year, joining Brock Stratton in 2003.
Austin McNamara is the first Texas Tech player to garner Special Teams Player of the Year since the award’s inception in 2005. He is the first punter since 2018 to earn the honor.
Cooper Beebe becomes the fifth back-to-back winner of Offensive Lineman of the Year, after capturing the award last season. Beebe is the first K-State offensive lineman to be honored twice, as B.J. Finney (2014) and Dalton Risner (2018) were named as the league’s best once apiece.
Byron Murphy II is the fourth Texas player to earn Defensive Lineman of the Year, and the first since Charles Omenihu in 2018. Brian Orakpo (2008) and Poona Foord (2017) have also captured the award for the Longhorns.
Oklahoma has won the most individual awards in the 28-year history of the Big 12 with 48. K-State is second (38), followed by Texas (36), Oklahoma State (27), Baylor (23), Iowa State (23), TCU (14), Texas Tech (10), West Virginia (10) and Kansas (9).
The full list of honors can be found HERE!