Oregon lands former Oklahoma, UCF QB
Oregon has its quarterback for 2024.
On Saturday, former UCF and Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel committed to Oregon for his final collegiate season.
When announcing the move, Gabriel, a native Hawaiian, referenced former Ducks great Marcus Mariota, who is also from Hawaii and played at Oregon from 2012-14. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2014.
Oregon begins next season, its first in the Big Ten, with a road game against Hawai'i on Aug. 24, 2024.
Given the success that quarterback Bo Nix had after moving from Auburn to Eugene, it only makes sense that the Ducks were able to land one of the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal.
Per On3, Gabriels ranks eighth among players in the portal and is the fourth-highest-ranked quarterback behind Cam Ward, Dante Moore and Will Howard.
Gabriel started as a freshman in 2019 at UCF and played three seasons with the Knights before transferring to Oklahoma in 2022.
In the past two seasons, he completed 66 percent of his attempts for 6,828 yards (9.1 yards per attempt), 55 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Nix transferred to Oregon last season and excelled after struggling at Auburn. He improved his completion percentage by 15.2 percentage points and threw for 487 more yards and 30 more touchdowns in eight fewer games with the Ducks than with the Tigers.
Nix is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, which will be announced Saturday evening.
Gabriel could very well follow in his footsteps.
More must-reads: