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PFF Ranks Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel No. 8

Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler also come in high on Pro Football Focus's list of college football's top returning quarterbacks.

John E. Hoover

New Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel comes to Norman with plenty of accolades.

Now he has a new one.

The former Central Florida star is rated No. 8 among returning QBs in all of college football according to Pro Football Focus.

PFF’s Anthony Treash writes that Gabriel has “fantastic touch downfield,” which led to his 80.3 rating as a true freshman in 2019 and 90.4 as a sophomore in 2020.

“Gabriel will be reuniting with Jeff Lebby, who is now Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after serving in the same role at Ole Miss from 2020 to 2021 and UCF in 2019,” Treash writes.

“The transfer quarterback thrived as an underclassman with Josh Heupel as the head coach and Lebby as his offensive coordinator — in 2019 only — prior to missing most of 2021 due to injury. Heupel is widely known for his quarterback-friendly offense that provides simplistic reads for the passer. While the concepts are painless for the quarterback, the offense still needs the signal-caller to consistently take one-on-one vertical shots down the sideline when the defense is in single-high.

“Gabriel has fantastic touch downfield, and that trait led to major passing success. He earned 80.3 and 90.4 passing grades as a true freshman and sophomore in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Lebby’s offense won’t ask Gabriel to do too much and will take advantage of the quarterback’s strengths.”

Gabriel isn’t the only quarterback on PFF’s list with Oklahoma ties.

Caleb Williams, who has entered the NCAA transfer portal but still hasn’t revealed his destination, comes in at No. 2 thanks to his 91.3 PFF grade in 2021, which broke Trevor Lawrence’s record by a true freshman.

Former Sooner QB Spencer Rattler, who transferred to South Carolina, ranks No. 3 and is PFF’s highest-rated passer in college football since 2020.

Alabama Heisman winner Bryce Young ranks No. 1, while Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud ranks No. 4.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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