Greg McElroy breaks down Dillon Gabriel heading into 2022 season

On his most recent episode of Always College Football with Greg McElroy, McElroy broke down his expectations for this year’s group of quarterbacks in the Big 12. In his breakdown, he discussed Oklahoma‘s quarterback transfer from UCF Dillon Gabriel and how his past success could fuel the Sooner’s offensive attack this season.

“Dillon Gabriel would be the next guy that we’d want to address because we all know what he was capable of doing when he was at UCF, some tremendous seasons at the helm of the Knights and he’s now at Oklahoma where obviously, massive shoes to fill for every quarterback in the last decade,” McElroy said. “Hopefully he along with Jeff Lebby can put some points on the board for the Sooners this year.”

McElroy also noted that at the quarterback position in the Big 12, there are more question marks than ever with Oklahoma State’s quarterback Spencer Sanders being the only returning starter that didn’t face a quarterback completion this offseason. The Big 12 is open and itching for new quarterback talent, and the Sooners are hoping that Gabriel can show traits of former OU quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts.

Gabriel isn’t the only one with big shoes to fill, with Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma to coach USC, he takes a high-powered offensive system with him that’s notorious for putting up points. This definitely puts pressure on Oklahoma’s new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, but him and Gabriel have past history. In 2019, Lebby was the offensive coordinator for UCF during Gabriel’s true freshman year, where he threw for 3,653 yards and 29 touchdowns. Lebby has proven offensive success that can be seen through the quarterback play of not only Gabriel in the past, but names like Mackenzie Milton and Matt Corral.

Gabriel is definitely a proven quarterback, the UFC Knights had a winning record every season Gabriel was their starter and for his career has thrown for over 8,000 yards and thrown 70 touchdowns with just 14 interceptions. Gabriel’s 2021 season was cut short due to an injury suffered in the final play of their week 3 showdown against Louisville, but with plenty of time to recover and reintegrate into Lebby’s offense, the Sooners should have high hopes for their experienced new QB1.