How Oklahoma Dillon Gabriel Emphatically Inserted Himself into the Heisman Discussion

DALLAS — Given the opportunity to talk about himself and his Heisman moment and his apparent candidacy as a contender for the Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel politely declined.

“This is our moment,” Gabriel said, emphasizing his team above himself.

Given the opportunity to fold and walk out of the Cotton Bowl a loser and let Texas have its moment on a perfect fall Saturday, Gabriel not-so-politely declined, leading the Sooners 75 yards in 77 seconds — with no timeouts — and throwing the game-winning touchdown pass with 15 seconds left in a stirring 34-30 Red River Rivalry instant classic.

“He’s the calmest guy I’ve ever been around at the quarterback position,” said Sooners coach Brent Venables. “He’s got great belief in the players around him. Incredibly humble. You don’t see him ever tooting his own horn. He’s always trying to compliment and call someone else up. But he’s prepared. He's worked really, really hard. He’s been one of the most consistent players in our program.”

That’s saying something. Venables has been around past Heisman winners like Jason White and Sam Bradford, and around No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks like Bradford and Trevor Lawrence.

Bradford’s calm demeanor even earned him the nickname “Big Easy” from Bob Stoops.

But Venables said what he said.

“He was fearless,” Venables said. “ … I don’t put any limits on what Dillon can do. He’s playing as confident as anybody on our team right now.”

Gabriel became the first Sooner in the history of the rivalry to throw for 250 yards (285) and rush for 100 (a career-high 113). He ran for a TD, threw for the game-winner — and emphatically inserted himself into the 2023 Heisman Trophy conversation.

“I’m going to let that take care of itself,” said offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby. “I think his play has spoken for itself. I think people will start taking notice maybe a little more than they have, but we are going to continue to be inside-out. He's played his butt off. He'll continue to. We'll go into the open date, clean things up and try to figure out a way to get (win) No. 7.”

“He deserves the Heisman this year,” said Jalil Farooq, Saturday's leading receiver with 130 yards on five catches.

Some 870 or so Heisman voters might disagree, since there’s half the season still ahead. Plenty of football ahead.

But Gabriel is absolutely at the top of anyone’s list now. That game-winning touchdown drive, that under-pressure throw to Nic Anderson, his sudden emergence ground threat, and just the physical beating he took Saturday — and his endless resilience to keep bouncing back — make it undeniable.

“I seen some of the hits he took,” said safety Billy Bowman. “When you have a quarterback risking it like that, you know that your team’s in a good situation.

“I feel like he proved himself as a complete quarterback.”

“I think it’s inspiring without a doubt,” Lebby said. “A guy that will continue to lead for us and play the way that he’s playing to give us a chance to go win.”

“The way he just put his body out on the line, it made me want to put my body on the line,” Anderson said.

Anderson, who didn’t play much Saturday and caught only the one pass, said he had no doubt Gabriel would lead the team down the field and win the game.

“Honestly, I saw confidence,” Anderson said. “He knew exactly what we were going to do. We'd done it 100 times in practice. We executed it perfectly. I could feel the confidence just buzzing off of him.”

It made Saturday all the sweeter that he missed last year’s game with a concussion — his team lost 49-0 — and put on an historic show. He got emotional thinking about how much better it felt this year than last, and he got really emotional when asked about what he thought was happening back in Hawaii during that final drive.

"I've got a lot of family back home that just loves me and is very supportive of my dreams and aspirations," he said. "There are three things that I represent. That's the name on the front, the name on my back and the state of Hawaii just because that's what made me. I hold it heavy because I love that place. I love everything it represents, and that's love, humility and respect. And I'll forever be that."

And the Heisman? What would that be like to represent such an honor for the rest of his life?

“I’ll say this, it’s not my main focus," Gabriel said. "I’m focused on heading into this bye week and getting better, watching the tape and finding ways to get better, and then, shoot, take it one week at a time. As you do that, the rest will take care of itself."

At Oklahoma, the quarterback standards are unrealistically high — for anyone. Fans have complained that Gabriel isn’t up to the Bradford-Mayfield-Murray levels — but maybe now he can be.

He even got to talk to another one of those Heisman winners-No. 1 picks this week when Mayfield gave him a call.

“It was good,” Gabriel said. “He’s a really good dude. Someone that I admire a bunch, obviously playing here, but I have for a long time. I love the way he plays and just love what he’s all about. Really super cool to have that access and that be something from guys who played here. He loves this place. I love that about him.”