Report: UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel enters NCAA Transfer Portal

UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. Gabriel, a three-year starter for the Knights, only appeared in three games this season before suffering a serious shoulder injury. Gabriel fractured his clavicle in UCF’s Week 3 loss against Louisville.

The 2019 season was Gabriel’s first as UCF’s starting quarterback. That season, he threw for 3,653 yards, 29 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, adding four rushing touchdowns. Last season, Gabriel threw for 3,570 yards, 32 touchdowns and four interceptions along with two rushing touchdowns.

In his UCF career, Gabriel threw for 8,037 yards, 70 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He was the first starting quarterback for UCF following the devastating injury to McKenzie Milton, who is now at Florida State. With Gabriel now in the portal, UCF will again be transitioning to a new opening day starting quarterback.

Gabriel took to Twitter to send a departing message to UCF fans after entering the portal.

Once Gabriel went down with his injury, UCF turned to true freshman Mikey Keane at quarterback. Keane threw for 1,586 yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions this season, leading UCF to an 8-4 regular season record. Now, similarly to when Gabriel took over, Keane could be the future at quarterback for UCF with Gabriel now in the portal.

One potential landing spot for Gabriel is Ole Miss, according to Zenitz.

Transfer portal background information 

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be  contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.