A familiar face will guide the newest No. 1 team in college football on B1G Time this Saturday. Dillon Gabriel, the 23-year-old southpaw, is the latest Heisman-contending quarterback for the Oregon Ducks, who are No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 polls for the first time since 2012.
Oregon hosts No. 20 Illinois in another primetime showcase (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) for Gabriel, who burst onto the scene in 2019 as a true freshman for UCF and is marching up NCAA record books on school No. 3. As transfer portal expert Chris Hummer has described it, no player better defines the “forever quarterback” era in college football. It’s not just about longevity for Gabriel, though. He’s been historically good this season alone and is the fifth quarterback since 2000 with a 75% completion rate and 15-plus touchdown passes during a 7-0 start, a club that includes Colt McCoy and Joe Burrow. Gabriel’s 77% completion rate leads FBS and is third-highest in a season in FBS history … besting, in particular, former Oregon QB Bo Nix’s mark from 2023.
Here are seven anecdotes from seven different voices that tell Gabriel’s story, beginning with his time coming up in Hawaii as a three-star prospect when he signed with UCF.
Gabriel caught love from USC, Oregon but stuck with UCF
By Blair Angulo, national recruiting reporter for 247Sports
With an aggressive down-field approach and a knack for the big play, class of 2019 three-star recruit Dillon Gabriel broke Tua Tagovailoa’s state record for all-time passing yards in Hawaii, sparking scholarship offers from Georgia and USC in the weeks leading up to signing day. He was a volume passer at Mililani and was an eye catcher at a number of showcases and passing tournaments, but perhaps saw his ranking hindered by a smaller build (5-foot-11). The lefty used that as fuel and has continued to be an inspiration for prospects in the Aloha State, just like Tagovailoa and Marcus Mariota were before him.
Gabriel has used NIL earnings to make donations back in his home state and is one of the leading proponents for more exposure opportunities for recruits on the islands, most recently lending advice to four-star quarterback Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele at the Elite 11 Finals; as fate would have it, Keawe Sagapolutele will take an official visit to Oregon this weekend for the Illinois game.
Read more on Gabriel as a cheerleader for Keawe Sagapolutele.
Gabriel’s historic time at UCF ended sourly
By Brandon Marcello, national college football reporter for CBS Sports/247Sports
I spent a week behind the scenes with UCF before its season opener in 2021. It was clear then that Dillon Gabriel was a superstar in Orlando, leading the charge for a new offense transitioning from Josh Heupel to Gus Malzahn that scored 134 points in the first three games. Then tragedy struck, and his season ended prematurely on the final play in a comeback attempt at Louisville that saw GAbriel break his clavicle. UCF limped through the schedule without Gabriel, but still had a solid year that ended with a monumental win against Florida in the bowl game.
Later that year, Gabriel entered the transfer portal and left for Oklahoma, delivering the Knights a gut punch before their final season in the AAC.
Later, in a quiet moment with Malzahn, the veteran coach told me that if Gabriel stuck around, he believed the Knights could have gone undefeated in 2022. Malzahn wasn’t just blowing hot air. Gabriel was that good — that important — and a difference-maker that could have delivered four more wins in a 2022 season that included two, one-score losses. The Knights lost the AAC Championship Game to Tulane on the road in New Orleans that season. What could have been, right?
Read more of Marcello’s all-access coverage of UCF and Gabriel.
Before he transferred to OU, Gabriel flipped from UCLA
By Chris Hummer, national college football reporter for CBS Sports/247Sports
Dillon Gabriel the Oklahoma and Oregon quarterback almost didn’t happen. Upon leaving UCF following the 2021 season, Gabriel committed to UCLA in the transfer portal. But hours before he was set to officially attend a class in Los Angeles, he flipped his commitment to Oklahoma to play for his former Knights OC Jeff Lebby, who had just arrived in Norman as offensive coordinator. That back and forth with the Bruins and Sooners came following Gabriel’s third season in Orlando.
Gabriel’s flip was certainly a gut punch to Chip Kelly and UCLA, which absolutely thought Gabriel was set to be the Bruins’ quarterback. But that’s life in the transfer portal era. Things happen quickly.
Read more on Gabriel’s 11th-hour flip from UCLA to Oklahoma.
Gabriel’s Oklahoma career aging like fine wine
By Tom Green, reporter for 247Sports’ Sooners Illustrated
Dillon Gabriel and Oklahoma were at similar crossroads when the former UCF quarterback joined the Sooners prior to the 2022 season. Gabriel, coming off a broken clavicle at UCF in 2021, wanted change — and a new opportunity to prove himself. Oklahoma, having just made its own change with the hiring of Brent Venables following Lincoln Riley’s departure for USC, was looking to rebuild.
It was a mutually beneficial partnership: Gabriel had an opportunity to relaunch his career at the highest level, while Oklahoma had a veteran quarterback to provide a steadying hand on offense as the program navigated a rebuild under Venables.
Gabriel put together a pair of prolific seasons, throwing for 6,828 yards and 55 touchdowns against 12 interceptions, with another 688 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns. Oklahoma, after a difficult Year 1 that included five losses by one possession — and a blowout loss to rival Texas with Gabriel sidelined due to a concussion — put together a 10-win season in Year 2 behind one of the top offenses in the country, all with Gabriel at the reins. At a program known for its Heisman pedigree at quarterback, especially over the last quarter-century, Gabriel may not be remembered as the best or even most talented of the bunch, but he was exactly what Oklahoma needed, when it needed it — a reality that shouldn’t be lost as a footnote in Sooners history.
Read more on Oklahoma and Gabriel’s mutually-beneficial partnership, which ended with Gabriel transferring after two seasons as Oklahoma made way for prized freshman Jackson Arnold.
Click here to check out the new Oklahoma Sooners on 247Sports YouTube Channel where Sooners Illustrated team shar video content to viewers.
Gabriel had no issue adapting, adopting Oregon culture
By Erik Skopil, reporter for 247Sports’ Duck Territory
In the transfer portal era, this is the type of quarterback you hope to find. Not only is Gabriel a great football fit, with his skillset marrying well with Will Stein’s offense, but I’m not sure I’ve seen an incoming player conform to Oregon’s culture quicker. I guess when you know time is of the essence you tend to make the most of it, and there’s no question that Gabriel hit the ground running in Eugene. There’s a lot of ways players achieve that, but Gabriel’s DimeTime retreat was instrumental in winning the roster over. During the summer, he brought all the skill players together for a weekend trip where football, fellowship and fun was central. Whatever was achieved then has paid off come fall. This a really tight-knit group considering so much of it hadn’t been together prior to this year, and like most things, it’s started at the top with the quarterback.
Read more about what Oregon’s players have said about Gabriel, including wideout Evan Stewart saying he’s the best QB he’s played with.
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Gabriel takes matters of charity into his own hands
By John Talty, national college football reporter for CBS Sports/247Sports
The Oregon starting quarterback has a great team around him — his NIL manager Steven Smith was instrumental in getting the event together — but this spring he also also individually emailed, texted and called sports journalists to raise awareness for his free I’m Inspired event at Mililani High School, his alma mater, where he used his Name, Image and Likeness money to donate new uniforms to the team. It is refreshing and indicative of the new era college sports is in when a starting college quarterback can directly reach out to anyone and everyone he wants to make his voice heard.
“I wanted people to hear my story,” Gabriel told 247Sports, which he first reached out to on social media via direct messages. “I wanted people to hear from my mouth that this is important. Mililani High School, my experience there was probably the most difficult time of my life in terms of myself and creating a foundation of how I want to be in my life but also how I conducted myself in football. It set me up for success and I’m grateful for that place so I want to pay it forward to all these younger athletes.”
Read more on how Dillon Gabriel owned the summer of 2024.
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