Dillon Gabriel’s jaw dropped.
As the Sooners’ quarterback strolled down Lindsey Street in a gray suit hours before facing SMU, some special fans greeted him.
Mililani High School’s principal Fred Murphy and Athletic Administrator Joy Matsukawa ventured 3,745 miles from Hawaii to Norman to surprise the pride of Mililani — population 28,121 — with leis the color of their school Saturday at OU’s Walk of Champions.
The garlands commemorate special occasions and milestones. Those draped on him Saturday were to thank him for his hand in Mililani High’s partnership with Nike, his donation of gear and an $8,000 check. Gabriel has also expressed interest in contributing to Maui, a community ravaged with fires in recent months.
It all left Murphy and Matsukawa wanting to reciprocate by bringing a little bit of home to Gabriel and make him feel supported by the community.
“He means a lot,” Matsukawa told the OU Daily. “Not only was he a great student while he was at our school, but he continues to leave a legacy and he’s a great role model for our current students. … He wants to reach out and help support the community.”
The redshirt senior has started 2023 hot, tossing four touchdowns in Oklahoma’s (2-0) 28-11 win over SMU (1-1) on Saturday and completing 19 of his 22 passes for 308 yards and a touchdown in OU’s 73-0 win over Arkansas State in Week 1. As coaches and players have already indicated, this is Gabriel’s last season with the Sooners despite having a year of eligibility left, and he wants to make the most of it.
All signs indicate his backup, the former five-star prospect, now-freshman Jackson Arnold, will take over and lead the Sooners into the SEC in 2024. Dori Gabriel told the OU Daily on Saturday that her son plans to play in the NFL next season.
“Football will not be forever, let’s face it,” said Dori Gabriel, Dillon's mother who embraced Arnold with a hug during the Walk of Champions. “He has aspirations to play (at the) next level, and I pray and hope that this year he’ll be able to make that happen with the help of his team. As much as he wants to do it for himself, he wants to do it for the program and his football brothers.”
Dillon Gabriel during Walk of Champions on Sept. 9.
Just as Gabriel respects the beauty of competition and career transitions, the leis symbolize the beauty of Hawaii and respect for the islands. There’s at least one around Gabriel’s neck before every game, brought by Dori Gabriel and other family members in carry-on luggage across the Pacific Ocean to signify his family and friends surrounding him with love and support.
“It's a custom, just a symbol and a circle,” Dori Gabriel said. “You wear the garland of flowers for special occasions. It symbolizes love and kindness and spirit. And so, if he wears the Aloha, which is what I envision it to be, then he's a symbol of it (with his) intentionality and the artwork of it.”
There’s a certain art to the career of Gabriel, who across 39 games at UCF and now Oklahoma, entered Saturday ranked No. 54 in FBS career passing yards. If he matches his 3,168 total from last season, he’d catapult to No. 9, one spot ahead of former Hawaii star Colt Brennan and two spots behind former Heisman Trophy winning Sooner Baker Mayfield.
Though he doesn’t plan to exhaust his eligibility next season, if he changed his mind he could likely make a run at current Hawaii coach Timmy Chang’s total of 17,072 at No. 2, who led the Rainbow Warriors from 2000-04.
Sooners offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said during fall camp that he thinks Gabriel will make the top 10.
“You can put a little more on Dillon, and, again, he’s now played a ton of ball. And this is a guy that (if he) stays healthy, I would like to think he’s going to be a top 10 passer in the history of college football. That matters,” Lebby said.
Gabriel, a team-first player who was named a captain for OU’s Week 2 matchup with the Mustangs, isn’t focused on the accolades or his future.
“Fortunately, none of that matters,” Gabriel said during fall camp. “The name of the game is that it's the ultimate team sport. And that's all I'm focused on is winning, having fun with my brothers, sometimes just keeping it simple and maintaining. The rest will take care of itself. So for me, (it’s about) finding ways to go 1-0 every week, that's what keeps everyone happy.”
‘We’re here for the journey’
Before Dori Gabriel makes the day-long trek to Norman with lei packaged in ice to keep it fresh, she strolls into Lin’s Lei Shop in Honolulu.
The store sells handmade lei from locals and is Dori’s go-to. The aunt of Dillon’s girlfriend, Zoe Caswell, sometimes crafts him ones made with ribbon and dollar bills. Caswell met Dillon in middle school and they’ve been dating since.
When Dillon signed with UCF, she attended the University of Massachusetts. Once Dillon transferred to OU, Zoe moved to Norman and was able to finish her UMass schooling at OU, which was coordinated by the two schools.
“We met in sixth grade and kind of started dating then and we’ve known each other ever since,” Caswell told the OU Daily. “It’s been a great ride. I knew him before he even played football, so I think it’s nice to know him on that side as a person and not just a football player.”
Redshirt senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel and his girlfriend during Walk of Champions on Sept. 9.
Caswell stands beside Dori Gabriel each gameday and greets Dillon as he heads into the stadium. The duo offered him crimson leis again for Week 2.
Those are Dori Gabriel’s favorite — the crimson symbolizing OU’s colors. Others he wears throughout the season include the maile lei, which looks like leaves intertwined.
“I love that crimson, those are beautiful to bring over,” Dori Gabriel said.
Gabriel's look isn't complete without the crown-like lei Po'o Dori Gabriel says adds a more masculine look.
When Gabriel makes the left turn from Lindsey Street onto Jenkins Avenue, he’s greeted by his family and the smell of home. They are some of the final people he sees before entering Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and he’s reminded of his family’s legacy he carries with him and he’s “Dedicated to Greatness,” as the acronym for his DG The Brand says, which also matches his initials.
Before strapping up his pads and helmet and running out onto Owen Field, Gabriel places the lei in his locker so it’s one of the first things he sees postgame, whether he played good or bad.
On Sunday mornings after games when the Gabriel family is in town, they attend Mass at St. Thomas More in Norman. Every once in a while during the fall, visitors to the church on Stinson Street aren’t hard pressed to find a lei gracing the St. Thomas More and mother Mary statues.
After Gabriel helped finish off the Mustangs, he bolted straight to Lebby and embraced in a hug. He then caught up with receivers coach Emmett Jones briefly before finding his family and being met with kisses, hugs and pictures.
After exiting the field, Gabriel went to his locker and put the leis on he was gifted Saturday before arriving at the postgame press conference. With them on, he feels like he’s home.
“That's for me what the flowers represent is just to remind him that he's not here by himself, that we're all here with him,” Dori Gabriel said. “And good, bad or ugly or indifferent. We're here for the journey for him and that's why I want him to walk in knowing that.”
