Watching Dillon Gabriel During UCF's Practice Tells the Tale

A look at the technique and attitude that UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel practices with. He’s the right guy to be leading the Knights.

Brian Smith | Aug 20, 2021

Watching Dillon Gabriel During UCF's Practice Tells the Tale /

Orlando, Fla. -- While watching UCF’s practice on Friday, Aug. 20, there was an obvious get it done attitude with quarterback Dillon Gabriel. His detail with passing technique, the subsequent accuracy, and the overall bounce in Gabriel’s step (literally dancing at one point), were evident.

Dillon Gabriel, Quarterback, UCF — Brian Smith, Inside The Knights

It’s great to see, as fall camp can grind on a player and drain the energy from one’s body. Not Gabriel. UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn does not need to worry about his leader because he's on point.

This is important, as he’s the unquestioned face of UCF Football and the player many other UCF players will look to this year when the chips are down. When Gabriel practices with the type of energy that was evident at today’s practice, it’s going to provide motivation for other players.Here are a few quick thoughts prior to the media interviewing players after practice, along with a few photographs.

Could You Miss, Please?

After watching each pass land between the shoulder blades of the intended receiver time after time, it was as if it was a robot making passes. Quite the contrary, Gabriel was throwing the football, and throwing it well during drill work. The same motion over and over, just like he should be.

For anyone that’s played golf and attempted to put with the same stroke each time, or shot a basketball and wanted the same rhythm shooting a jump shot, watching Gabriel’s throwing motion will either make you happy or really angry. It’s a matter of perspective. While hard not to respect his incredibly consistent throwing motion, he probably has some people agitated that they cannot replicate the same type of regimen for their own respective sport of choice. Comparison’s aside, there are truly very few signal callers with a more consistent throwing motion than Gabriel. That’s why he rarely misses a target by much, if at all.

Attitude Matters

He’s the star of the team. Eyeballs are always following Gabriel. He takes it in stride and runs with the opportunity. He also likes to dance a little bit while going through stretching and drills with the other UCF players and coaches.

It’s just cool to watch a young man that’s totally in control of what he’s doing. Gabriel does not come off as arrogant or brash. He’s just himself, all the time. Down to earth, yes, and working hard at his craft, that's Gabriel. He's also having fun while doing what he loves.

Watching other players near Gabriel during drills showed other players with an up-beat attitude. It’s hard to not notice how Gabriel impacts other players. While grading technique, as shown above, proves to be important it’s also just as important for other UCF players to feed off of Gabriel’s energy.

Final Thoughts

While the regular season games will ultimately define Gabriel and what he’s all about, seeing Gabriel’s attitude towards practice and how other players feed off of him should keep UCF fans happy. This is the type of young man any college football fan would want leading their program. He’s a special talent, a leader, and one that’s respected. UCF has more than a quarterback with Gabriel. He’s the player that makes the UCF Football team go.

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