Showing off his skills
UCF FOOTBALL he has seen his first-year starter make thus far. Although the Knights probably would have liked to see Gabriel reach this point sooner, they knew it couldn’t come without a lot of game experience.
“You’ve got to live it. You’ve got to get on the field, you’ve got to take the snaps, you’ve got to put yourself in certain situations and understand that you can do certain things,” Lebby said. “… [Gabriel] used his feet in a good way here last week and has done a good job in practice this week. We expect that to continue.”
Gabriel’s teammates can sense a change as well. Anderson said Gabriel may have avoided keeping the ball on previous read-option plays when he had room to run because he was nervous about possibly making a mistake. But now?
“He’s a lot more confident in what he can do,” Anderson said.
Still, no one is going to exclaim that Gabriel is anywhere close to a finished product. Even when he makes plays that make you forget he is a true freshman, the fact is Gabriel has spent less than a full year on UCF’s campus.
He has cleared one hurdle; many remain in the years ahead. But with every step forward, Gabriel inches closer to becoming the full-fledged star his coaches believe he can be.
“He’s got a ton of work to do, but he’ll tell you the exact same thing,” Lebby said. “What he is today is not going to be what he is a year from today or two years from today. That’s because of experience and playing and living all of these different situations that he’s going to be living here over the next couple years.
“But he’s got a big-time ceiling. Gonna win a bunch of games with him.”