Dillon Gabriel Discusses Oregon Offense, Path to Improvement in Fall Camp

On Monday Oregon held its fifth practice of fall camp and the media got to hear from a number of players. It’s always exciting to hear from the leader of the offense, the quarterback.

Dillon Gabriel met with reporters after practice and covered a variety of topics, including how he’s trying to improve entering his sixth college season.

Question: What does mastering the offense look like to you? Will says you’re getting there.

Gabriel: “Yeah just full command. Feeling really good and being super decisive in decision-making. I feel like in the spring there was a part of it, just kind of learning the language and the ins and outs of the offense. But I think now it’s executing at a high level, getting protected and of course coverage ID so you can just be more clear on what you want to do with the football. It’s important, I touch the ball every single play. A guy doing that, there’s gotta be trust and belief in every decision I make.”

Question: You talk about competition, how have the guys in your room pushed you to be better?

Gabriel: “I think just competition in general. I’ve been the young guy where I’m competing against an older dude that’s a 5-star and I’ve been in the middle of the pack in my career that’s also had a 5-star backup and then continuing again. 5-star, 4-star, whatever, I think even a walk-on–I think when you get into these environments you gotta be on your Ps and Qs. In your meeting room, who can answer the questions the quickest. I think we all push each other in every area of the field. You go on the field and everyone can make every single throw.”

Question: We’ve been hearing a lot of hype about Kenyon Sadiq from players and coaches alike, what have you seen from him from spring to now in fall camp?

Gabriel: “He’s probably been the most consistent dude I would have to say. Athletically he can do a bunch, but that I think limits the type of person he is and how humble and soft-spoken and yet just an ultimate competitor. I think when you get that combination of a person, he’s extremely talented. He’s made a bunch of plays as well and been in the right spots.”

Question: What are you trying to get out of these fall camp scrimmages? What are you gonna feel happy about when you’re looking back at the film these upcoming weekends, you’ll feel like you accomplished something, improved, developed. What’s it gonna take?

Gabriel: “Just execution at a high level. Not to coach speak ’cause I’m a player, but third-down efficiency, you can’t emphasize that enough. In the red area, scoring a bunch. And just moving forward, not taking negative plays, sacks, definitely no turnovers.”

Torres’ Take

As a quarterback, Gabriel’s words are always going to be held under a microscope. So far I think he’s absolutely crushed it, definitely a guy who ‘wins the press conference’ every time he speaks. I like his approach, specifically his focus on being a good decision maker and limiting turnovers.

Being able to win off the field, in the meeting room is another valuable detail that was interesting to hear, especially because that’s where I think he can really push this younger group of quarterbacks that features Dante Moore, Austin Novosad and Luke Moga. A perfect example of that is his process in learning another new offense after previous years at UCF and Oklahoma. It’s never easy to learn an entirely new offense, but he’s clearly a football savvy guy and it’s gotta be music to fans’ ears to hear he’s feeling comfortable, in fact nearly “mastered” the offense.

Bringing in a player with as much experience as he has and surrounding him with a stacked group of offense playmakers should only lead to good things for Will Stein and the Ducks in 2024, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.