Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel All Business as he Prepares for His Second Season as Starter

Gabriel is getting more comfortable in his leadership role, and his teammates have gotten more comfortable with him, "kind of like when you get a girlfriend."

By Tim Willert

NORMAN — For Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel, winning football games is all that matters heading into the 2023 season.

Winning and "having fun with my brothers," Gabriel said Tuesday following the Sooners' fifth practice of fall camp.

"The name of the game is this is the ultimate team sport and that's all I'm focused on," he told the media. "Just keeping it simple and maintaining that, the rest will take care of itself. So for me, finding ways to go 1-0 every week, that's what keeps everyone happy."

Gabriel, a fifth-year senior who threw for 3,163 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 461 yards and six scores in 2022, will be expected to provide more leadership in his second season as the team's starter.

He compared settling into a leadership role with a dating relationship.

"It's kind of like when you get a girlfriend," he said. "For three months, you're still learning each other but once you get to that year, year and a half, you kind of loosen up being able just to get to know them more.

"Likewise, with our relationships off the filed and on the field, just being around them more, knowing how we communicate, certain routes we like, how to throw them, routes they like to catch. I think with time, that can only benefit them."

Gabriel is not afraid to push his teammates to perform because he said it translates into production on the field.

"So I try to push them but I also try to love them even harder just because I know it's demanding and there's a lot of things that come with it," he said. "But just knowing that they can trust me and the connection off the field, that allows you to demand a lot."

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has said Gabriel, one of the most prolific active QBs in college football, will likely be an all-time Top-10 passer by the end of the 2023 season.

Gabriel's also been nominated for a couple prestigious awards. But he would rather focus on the business of winning, not individual accolades.

"Fortunately, none of that matters," he said.

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