Analyzing 4 best QBs that Texas football will face in 2022
2. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
The first transfer up on this list among the Big 12 projected starting quarterbacks is the former UCF Knights star and Oklahoma Sooners senior Dillon Gabriel. New head coach Brent Venables and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby found a good one out of the transfer portal this offseason in Gabriel to head up this new Oklahoma offense.
Gabriel has plenty of accomplishments and accolades under his belt from his three seasons at UCF. He was a Second-Team All-ACC selection and a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award in 2020. That along with his All-ACC Honorable Mention and All-Conference honors from Pro Football Focus in 2019 show his rise and effectiveness at UCF during those two seasons.
But Gabriel hit a roadblock last fall when he suffered a season-ending injury after just three games played.
That, along with some coaching turnover with the UCF program, pushed Gabriel to enter the transfer portal and eventually land with the Sooners earlier in the offseason.
Gabriel has some insane numbers under his belt from his two seasons as a full-time starting quarterback at UCF. He registered more than 8,000 career passing yards at UCF, 70 passing touchdowns, just 14 interceptions, 156.9 passer efficiency rating, 372 rushing yards, and eight rushing scores.
Oklahoma also should have a natural fit at the quarterback position in Gabriel. The rising senior played in some fast-tempo-spread offenses during his time under Josh Heupel and Gus Malzahn at UCF. Lebby was also an offensive coordinator at UCF for one of the seasons where Gabriel was the starting quarterback. So, there’s clearly some familiarity between these two parties.
Lebby likes to run some fast-pace no-huddle RPOs, where he also takes in many concepts and ideas from the air raid offense. He likes to keep opposing defenses on their toes in any way he possibly can it seems. And the multi-faceted skill set that Gabriel brings to the table should be an excellent fit with Lebby in Norman.