From UCF to Oklahoma to Oregon, Dillon Gabriel has become well-known for his proficiency through the air, especially downfield. But his career could’ve taken a vastly different path were it not for an explosive senior high school season.
Where Did Dillon Gabriel Play in High School?
Gabriel began his prep career at a private school in Hawaii before transferring to Mililani High School his freshman year. One of the biggest reasons for his decision was the opportunity to learn under area legend McKenzie Milton, who was gearing up for his senior season.
Milton led Mililani to the state title game as a sophomore before winning it with a 14-0 record as a junior. He finished his high school career with a third straight appearance, 2,344 passing yards, and 30 touchdowns.
As Milton left to become the first student-athlete from Hawaii to play football for UCF, it was Gabriel’s time to shine. Following 7-3 and 8-3-1 campaigns, he only held one scholarship offer: Army.
Gabriel’s father, Garrett, was a quarterback at Hawaii from 1986-90 and threw for 5,638 yards and 47 touchdowns in his career.
Army head coach Jeff Monken was on the Rainbow Warriors’ staff during that time, and although Gabriel knew the Black Knights didn’t throw the ball often, the program felt like family to him.
However, a sensational senior season changed Gabriel’s life forever. He generated 3,754 yards and 38 TDs en route to the state championship, earning 2018 Gatorade Hawai’i Player of the Year, OIA Offensive Player of the Year, and Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State Offensive Player of the Year.
Gabriel’s 9,948 career passing yards set a new state record, and his 105 passing touchdowns were second only to Tua Tagovailoa. It’s hard for a record-breaking quarterback to go unnoticed, and Gabriel was no exception.
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Initially, Milton urged UCF head coach Josh Heupel to watch Gabriel’s tape, but the program only offered him a grayshirt, meaning he could not enroll at UCF until 2020. But after watching offers from Georgia and USC come in, Heupel and Co. changed their minds, taking the grayshirt caveat off of the scholarship.
All three offers required Gabriel to enroll early, which he hadn’t planned to do at Army. Thus, he needed to enroll in two online courses on top of his on-campus classes to make the January 2019 deadline.
In the end, Gabriel followed in Milton’s footsteps again, choosing UCF over the blueblood programs.
“At the time, Justin Fields and Jake Fromm were still at Georgia,” Gabriel said on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast this offseason. “J.T. Daniels was still a freshman at USC. I’m not saying I’m old; I’m just saying that was at the time. I looked at UCF. My buddy, McKenzie Milton, was injured that year, and they said there was an open competition. So, I was like, ‘Let’s go do it.’”
All Gabriel did was post 7,223 yards, 61 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in his first two years, but a season-ending clavicle injury in 2021 marked the end of his time with the Knights. He entered the portal after the season, pegging UCLA as his next destination.
However, three weeks later, he flipped to Oklahoma on the same day star freshman Caleb Williams decided to leave Norman, Okla.
Gabriel reunited with Sooners offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at UCF from 2018 to 2019. The first year was nothing to write home about, as the Sooners posted a 6-7 record. But the program bounced back with a 10-3 mark in Year 2 under HC Brent Venables.
The starting QB’s play was a large reason why, as Gabriel’s completion rate jumped from 62% to 69%, and he threw for 500 more yards and five more TDs while tossing the same amount of INTs (6).
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With Lebby off to become the head coach at Mississippi State, Gabriel entered the portal one last time and took the baton from Bo Nix at Oregon. Now, he’s set to write the next chapter of his storied career, bringing his elite passing skills to a Ducks team with its sights set not just on the playoffs but a national championship berth.
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