Dillon Gabriel, the most decorated Oregon Duck, is jetting off to New York this week. He was one of the final thick of the Heisman favorites. The kid has had a stupendous season under Dan Lannings and led his team to an unprecedented 13-0. His unfathomable grit and numbers earned him the Big Ten Player of the Year accolades. Now, we will still have to wait a couple of more days to know if all these stats are enough to beat Travis Hunter and write the Heisman trophy to his name or not, but his NFL candidacy is under serious doubt.
Gabriel, the seasoned pocket passer, has completed 297 of 406 passes for 3,558 yards, 28 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He has also rushed for seven TDs. So, his ability as a Duck frontrunner in his first year is beyond debate. Gabriel is a player with a brain. He throws down the field early with several arcs to give enough room for the playmaker to run underneath the football. An athlete with a mastermind! With all is said and done, he doesn’t come without some flaws. While discussing the Hawaii native’s high-flying NFL scout, John Middlekauff, on his Kauff on Campus podcast, dished a hard pill.
”Two things can be true. You can be an awesome player in college and not be a great NFL prospect. It’s not even debatable who the better quarterback prospect in the NFL is in that game, and it’s the guy who’s not that accurate. Well, why? He’s six foot, look, I don’t know what his exact measurements, what would you get 6′, 235; I mean, he’s huge, he’s got a massive arm, but he’s inaccurate, but you got that. You know when Myles Garrett’s chasing you around. Gabriel is really small. He’s just not very big. He was elite in that game. I mean, he was slinging it around,” the veteran analyst shed light on a huge inbuilt flaw of the 23-year-old Oregon sensation.
Longitudinally judging the effect of height within football for performance benefits is way more layered than you think. It does matter to some extent, but the good thing is short players still have roles to play in the 11 men’s team. However, when it comes to the NFL draft, they might have an issue with the undersized player. For Gabriel, he won’t be able to keep up with a vertical passing offense in the NFL because of his height.
‘Dillon Gabriel’s small but he can really play and he’s been playing where you start against UCF to Oklahoma. I mean, he’s just a really good player. Is he gonna get drafted? I don’t think he will get drafted. He is just too tiny.” Middlekauff put it out unfiltered.
However, on the other side of the picture, his Heisman odds are rising, something that is seemingly not sitting well with Coach Prime.
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