Oklahoma football: Get to know former UCF star, now-Sooner Dillon Gabriel

It was all in a day’s work of Oklahoma football. Within the eight-hour stretch on Monday this week, the Sooners had lost a starting quarterback to the transfer portal and several hours later picked up another.

On Monday night when UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel announced his commitment to Oklahoma. Just two weeks before, Gabriel had committed to UCLA.

Gabriel announced on social media that he will be transferring to the University of Oklahoma, changing his UCLA pledge after Quarterback Caleb Williams entered the transfer portal for the Sooners.

The Hawaiian-born gunslinger has developed into one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. The Sooners were able to land a gem, easily the best of the quarterbacks available in the portal.

Gabriel brings experience to Norman. In 2019, he started every game for UCF at quarterback as a freshman. He threw for 3,653 yards, 29 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. As a sophomore in 2020, Gabriel tossed for 3,570 yards, 32 TD’s, and 4 INT’s.

The start of 2021 was a somewhat gut punch to Gabriel’s career. The junior quarterback suffered a fractured left clavicle, which resulted in him being sidelined for a majority of the season. Gabriel was able to play the first three games of the season and finished with 814 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Gabriel was born and raised in Mililani, Hawaii, and attended Mililani High School. The 6-foot, 200-pound quarterback was originally a backup in his first year at UCF in 2019. He took over midway through the first game of the season and started the final 12 games for UCF.

Gabriel continued in the starting role for the 2020 season and led the Knights to a 6-4 record. That prompted high expectations for the next season. Gabriel’s 2021 season was derailed, however, because of the season-ending injury he sustained in the third game against Louisville.

The news that Gabriel is coming to Oklahoma may have signaled the end of Caleb Williams’ time in Norman. Earlier in the day on Monday, Williams announced that he was entering the transfer portal to explore his options. Many read that as saying he is not satisfied with his current situation now that Lincoln Riley, the coach who recruited him to OU, was gone.

It’s difficult to fathom that Gabriel would suddenly drop his pledge to UCLA and decide to come play at OU if he thought he would be a backup.

Gabriel comes in with a load of confidence and is being reunited with his former offensive coordinator, Jeff Lebby. Lebby was the offensive coordinator for UCF in 2019 and was the quarterbacks’ coach the previous year in 2018.

The veteran quarterback has three years of eligibility remaining if he elects to use it all. Gabriel throws from the left side, something that has been extremely rare in quarterbacks who have played at Oklahoma. The last time that was the case, however, turned out pretty well. Another southpaw, Josh Heupel, led the Sooners to their last national championship in the 2000 season.

We still wait on Williams’ decision to return to Oklahoma or transfer to another championship contender. Despite whichever decision he makes, Sooner fans should be excited about the addition of Gabriel. “They say life’s a gamble like rolling the dice… DIMETIME” Gabriel tweeted Monday night.