Dillon Gabriel on his play after transfer to Oregon: 'Similar but so different'

Dillon Gabriel noticed some similarities in philosophy when he came to Oregon, compared to his last stop at Oklahoma.

While the veteran quarterback began his career at UCF, he took another step forward with the Sooners. Now in his final season, he’s the leader of a Big Ten contender in 2024.

While there are similarities for Gabriel, it’s still a whole new world to learn.

“It’s similar but so different,” Gabriel said. “I think the philosophy is the same in terms of throwing the football and having a dominant run game. But I mean, you’ve seen that last year from Oregon and then of course, with when I was at Oklahoma. I think verbiage, the language (is) totally, totally different. There’s some things in the pass game that could be a little different, but all accomplish the same goals, which I think is why they are pretty similar.”

Over the course of two years at Oklahoma, Gabriel threw for 6,828 yards, 55 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 66% completion percentage. In his career (five seasons), Gabriel has 14,865 yards, 125 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and a 63.1% completion percentage.

Dillon Gabriel set up for success at Oregon

Offensive coordinator Will Stein has a ton of respect for what Jeff Lebby did with Gabriel. The stats show UCF and Oklahoma had some of the best offenses in college football when the duo worked together.

Things are going to be a little different in Eugene, though.

Stein went back and watched every game Gabriel played at Oklahoma to see if there was any crossover between the two schemes. He did find some but Gabriel is going to have a transition period.

Oregon uses different verbiage which may as well be speaking a different language.

“I went back and watched every single game from Oklahoma,” Stein said. “Tagged plays that are in our system, that fit what we do, along with what fit Dillon, what fits his eye, and his ability. The good thing is, there’s a lot of carryover. Their shot game and three-level pass game — I feel like there is a ton of carryover for Dillon, it’s just different words we used compared to the offense he was in before.”

But at the end of the day, Stein is going to keep the same offense implemented while throwing in some familiar concepts for Gabriel. He transferred out West in order to prepare him for the NFL and Stein believes Oregon presents him the best opportunity to do so.

“Dillon is a fast learner,” Stein said. “He’s eager to learn, he’s a football junkie, he grinds. I think it’s been really good for him because going to the next level, he’s going to be running a lot of the same schemes. We’re going to try to put him in place to have a really successful year and keep this train rolling.”