Dillon Gabriel reveals what has impressed him most this spring

The Oklahoma Sooners saw their uber-talented quarterback Caleb Williams leave in the offseason to USC to join his old head coach, Lincoln Riley. Former Central Florida quarterback Dillon Gabriel is the now the new trigger man for the Sooners’ offense. He recently sat down with the media to talk about how excited he is to meet former Sooner stars.

“It’s super unique,” Gabriel said. “I think the biggest thing when they came back is…man it’s a privilege to play here. For every single one of us. We’re super blessed. Every single day we get to walk in the building. Everything’s ready for us. We’ve just gotta attack. And just having guys come back, those are guys you watch and continue to look up to. That’s why I’m super excited for [the] spring game. Being able to meet a bunch of guys who played here–that loved this place so much. I can just see the passion they have [for OU] and Sooner Nation. And how much passion they have for this football team. It’s special, for sure.”

Dillon Gabriel is really excited to meet players like Baker Mayfield

As he’s now playing in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield is making a return to Norman this weekend for Oklahoma’s spring game on Saturday afternoon. While the quarterback will be taking in the game, he’ll also be getting honored by the school with a Heisman Trophy statue.

While Mayfield is undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks to ever play at Oklahoma, he set the bar high for the quarterbacks that come after him–including current Sooners’ signal-caller Dillon Gabriel. Meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Gabriel shared how excited he is to meet Mayfield this weekend and what he means to the program.

“I’m excited to meet him,” Gabriel said. “Obviously watching from afar and got a lot of respect for him and what he’s done for Oklahoma. He’s done a bunch, won a bunch of games, but most importantly just the passion he has for the game and Oklahoma – it’s real.

“I’m going to be super excited to meet him and hopefully be able to further talk and get into deeper conversation. But super excited to meet him.”

In terms of having the chance to meet Mayfield, Gabriel said that it would mean a lot to him – simply because Mayfield is someone he can model his game after.

“I think the biggest thing is that he’s played the position, and has played it here,” Gabriel said. “On every single level – in the NFL, here, even back at [Texas] Tech. I just think there’s so much I can learn from him and his whole journey. So, I’m excited to dive deeper into that.”

In his last full season at Central Florida in the 2020 season, Gabriel shined for the Golden Knights, completing 60 percent of his passes for 3,570 passing yards, while tossing in 32 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Oklahoma’s Red vs. White spring game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. EST Saturday.

On3’s Sean Labar also contributed to this article.