Dan Lanning stresses Dillon Gabriel will provide alternate look in 2024: 'Dillon is so different than Bo'
It might be a slight oversimplification to say that Oregon will go as Dillon Gabriel goes in 2024, but it also might not be far off from reality, either.
Gabriel is taking the reins at quarterback after transferring from Oklahoma, looking to replace veteran Bo Nix. Nix was a Heisman Trophy finalist, so that’ll be no easy feat.
But asked if Gabriel can handle that transition, coach Dan Lanning didn’t hesitate for a second.
“Oh he certainly can. I think any time that there’s transition, the challenge for you as a coach is to figure out what are your players’ strengths and what can you lean into for them,” Lanning said. “That’s something that great high school coaches do. They figure out what is their team good at and they put them in position to do that.
“The great thing about Dillon is he can do a lot of things well. So he fits us well. He has great experience. Seeing him get kind of encompassed into our system and get more and more comfortable is something we’re excited to see.”
That’s not to say Dillon Gabriel will be a straight like-for-like replacement for Nix. They do things a little differently, even though both quarterbacks are athletic enough to do some damage with their legs.
Still, the overall approach is different. Who they are as people differs pretty significantly.
“It’s so fun because I would tell you that Dillon is so different than Bo, who we just had. But what he is is authentic,” Lanning said. “He’s a guy that really cares about people. He’s tied into the managers on the team and whoever the janitor is walking around the hallway, the other players. When he walks in a room he’s interested in you, he wants to know about you. And it’s really authentic and it matters. I think he learned quickly I need to connect with the team first before I can get out there and be a vocal leader, so it’s been fun to watch.”
Dillon Gabriel has gone out of his way to try to build team chemistry from Day 1 after arriving at Oregon. It can be a challenging task, especially when you’re the brand new guy and you’re trying to immediately take on a leadership role.
To that end, Gabriel has been all about servant leadership.
“It’s hard to put into words how many different things he’s done,” Lanning said. “I’ve seen him personally take his offensive players on a retreat in southern Oregon where they got to spend some time together and played some ball but also (engaged in) fellowship some. Whether it’s going to dinner or having the equipment managers over to his house to watch a fight, I mean this guy does an unbelievable job of saying, ‘Hey, there’s a guy that needs something, let me go get dinner with him tonight.’ And just having the eagerness and awareness to go attack that.”
There’s also the leadership side. Dillon Gabriel is pulling on some pretty good threads on that front.
He’s a Hawaii native, so he has taken quite a bit from another prominent Hawaii native who once suited up for Oregon: 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.
The guidance provided there has been invaluable.
“Marcus is such a humble person. He’s family-oriented and he accomplished so many things, but if you meet him you’d feel like you’re meeting with somebody that doesn’t stand with his accomplishments in front of him,” Lanning said. “He’s just a great human and I think that speaks to a lot of the way that Dillon wants to operate. He wants to know you as a person first.
“Obviously there’s a lot of admiration and respect. I think Dillon was telling me first time I met Marcus I was in fourth grade or fifth grade. Hearing that story for him and then seeing those guys get to connect is cool.”
With any luck, Dillon Gabriel will be in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race in the same way Mariota was, the same way Nix was. If things play out that way, Oregon will be in great shape.