Dillon Gabriel is not flashy or necessarily fancy in going about his job, but the Oklahoma football quarterback is as good as any player in the land in what he does.
You wouldn’t know that, though, if you weren’t an Oklahoma Sooner fan. You won’t find the OU quarterback’s name among the top QB candidates for this season’s Heisman Trophy — even though four Sooner QBs have won that award since 2000 and two others have been Heisman runners-up.
Gabriel goes about his work quietly and in selfless fashion, although there is nothing reserved about the numbers he is putting up and has consistently done so in his career. As Sooner head coach Brent Venables likes to say about his star quarterback, “he has played a lot of ball.” Gabriel’s numbers through three games in what is his sixth season of college football are reflective of that fact.
In the first three games this season, Gabriel has completed a phenomenal 82.5 percent of his passes (66 of 80) for 905 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception. That completion percentage leads the country, and his passing efficiency rating of 220.40 is second only to former OU quarterback Caleb Williams, now at USC.
With Gabriel at the offensive controls, the 2023 edition of Oklahoma football is outscoring its opponents 167-28, third in scoring offense at 55.7 points a game, fifth in first downs with 85 and seventh in passing yards, averaging 358 yards per game.
Admittedly, it is still very early in the season, and the Sooners’ nonconference schedule has not been especially difficult. But his performance to open the season this year is dramatically better than it was through the first three games a year ago, when the schedule was also relatively easy.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby noticed right off the difference in Gabriel from last season to this one.
"“When he got back in January and just the way he worked through winter workouts,” Lebby said on Monday during his weekly press conference.“And that had a lot to do with the ball, but it (also) had a lot to do with leadership and toughness and edge how he was being true to himself.”"
It also has a lot to do with Gabriel’s being more comfortable and confident, this being his second season in the system at Oklahoma, although he also spent a year under Lebby at UCF in his freshman season in 2019 when Lebby was offensive coordinator.
Gabriel also has told reporters that last season, when the Sooners finished a disappointing 6-7 in Venables first season as head coach, had a big impact on him. He had never been on a losing team in college before transferring to Oklahoma. In fact, his freshman year in 2019, UCF finished second among FBS teams in total offense, averaging 540 yards per game.
"“I’ve learned myself, through this journey from freshman year to now, and I’ve played a bunch of football,” Gabriel said, “the biggest thing is control what you can control.“It’s knowing the difference between winning and losing is really small. Dialing into the details, not taking it for granted, and executing at a high level goes a long way.”"
Gabriel has thrown for over 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns in three of his four college seasons, and he probably would done it a fourth time if he had not been injured and out for the season after three games his junior year at UCF.
In 15 games at Oklahoma, Gabriel already ranks No. 10 on the career passing leaderboard with 4,073 yards and 36 touchdowns. That is one spot ahead of Jalen Hurts, and he will likely pass Spencer, Rattler, Kyler Murray, Nate Hybl and Cale Gundy and could move into the top five by the end of this season.
Gabriel is clearly a quality, experienced quarterback who is flying under the radar, but that could and should change with the strength of the remaining schedule, in Gabriel’s final collegiate season, ramping up considerably beginning this weekend with Big 12 newcomer Cincinnati.
“If you don’t love what you’re doing, it’s hard to be great at it,” Venables said this week during his regular weekly press briefing. “Being confident and sure of who you are is part of that.”
Confidence is something that Gabriel is brimming with. It’s time that the college football world recognizes his rightful place among the best quarterbacks in the college game.