Why Oregon's offense sets up Dillon Gabriel for success

Oregon scored one of the early aces from the NCAA transfer portal when it landed Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who figures to take the reins immediately from departing veteran Bo Nix.

If all goes well for the Ducks it’ll basically be plug and play next season.

“You look at this Oregon offense and as efficient as it was this year, there’s no reason to change much,” said ScoopDuck‘s Justin Hopkins on the Andy Staples On3 show.

Oregon finished the season ranked second nationally in scoring offense, total offense, passing and passing efficiency. So, yeah, not changing a whole lot (other than personnel) is probably pretty wise.

Hopkins broke down how Gabriel can take advantage of what the Oregon offense is likely to provide him with.

“I think this offense sets up any quarterback for success if they understand the playbook, if they understand where everybody’s supposed to be,” Hopkins said. “I think that’s what made Bo Nix just so efficient and made so few mistakes. He knew where every receiver was going to be, so he’s making Read 1, Read 2 and all the sudden it’s not there so I’ll hit my checkdown who I haven’t even looked at yet but I know he’s over here.”

The emphasis for Gabriel early on will be simply learning the offense. The quicker he can get up to speed, the more likely the Oregon offense doesn’t miss a beat.

The good news is that this isn’t Gabriel’s first transfer. He transferred from UCF to Oklahoma, so he’s used to learning a new system and integrating himself on a new team.

Hopkins thinks the offense will open up for Gabriel as long as he doesn’t force things.

“I think that’s what Will Stein’s offense really does,” Hopkins said. “It gives you options and almost always has something that’s available to you if you don’t force it. Bo Nix threw two interceptions this year. Really only threw one, but he did get credited for a second. And I think that’s what Dillon Gabriel has to do. Take what’s there, OK? Don’t try and push the ball, force it into these tight windows. It doesn’t have to go downfield all the time. We know he’s got an arm.”

But that’s not to say that Gabriel can’t add his own flavor to the offense. He’s a good enough player to put his own stamp on things.

“I think the one thing he’ll bring that maybe Oregon didn’t utilize with Bo Nix, probably because of depth concerns, is the legs,” Hopkins finished. “Dillon Gabriel can run. I think we’ll see that a little bit more in this offense.”