J.D. PicKell: Why Dillon Gabriel can crash the 2022 Heisman party

Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel is currently in the top 25 of Las Vegas’ 2022 Heisman odds but with a few good games to start the season, the former UCF quarterback could shoot to the top of the list. On3’s J.D. PicKell discusses what makes Gabriel a top candidate to crash the Heisman ceremony this year.

“The darkhorse for us, the one that kind of creeps up on you and then in November, you’re saying, ‘they’ll probably take it home,’ Dillon Gabriel. Quarterback for Oklahoma. Another transfer from UCF. Two things he has going for him that I really like: continuity on offense, has an offensive coordinator that he’s familiar with and played under, and then, a really quarterback-friendly system.

“It’s going to allow him to have a really big competition percentage, a really big yards-per-completion number, and he should throw a lot of touchdowns. The same question as for Caleb Williams, does Oklahoma win enough games? I think they can, I think they’re capable of it but we’re going to see if they can mesh quickly enough under Brent Venables and Jeff Lebby.”

A three-star recruit in the 2019 class, Gabriel brings three years of starting experience with him to Norman. In 2019, as a true freshman under Lebby, Gabriel showed that he was a special player, finishing with 3,653 yards and 29 touchdowns while leading the Knights to a 10-3 record.

He followed that up with 3,570 yards and 32 touchdowns as a sophomore, and likely would have done it again, if not for a broken clavicle in 2021.

PicKell ranks Dillon Gabriel No. 2 transfer quarterback

Instead of going with a flashy name like Jaxson Dart or Quinn Ewers — neither of which have played meaningful snaps yet — PicKell boldly picked Gabriel as the second-best passer to come out of the portal.

“At No. 2 I like Dillon Gabriel. [He] transferred from UCF to Oklahoma. So much of the whole Quinn Ewers conversation — some of you might be upset about this. Remember what this is about. This is about what have you done on a football field so far. Dillon Gabriel has the most proven track record out of anybody on this list. Just the fact of the matter. So, ability-wise, is he Quinn Ewers? No, he’s not Quinn Ewers. Ability-wise, is he Jaxson Dart? No.

“From what we know about him — what he’s stepping into, playing with his former offensive coordinator in Jeff Lebby, playing in a program that in my opinion is going to be able to play with and edge and really do some good things around him — Dillon Gabriel has the most proven track record of anybody on this list. Remains to be seen what he does in the fall.”

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this report.