Ranking the top 10 college football quarterbacks playing in 2020 (We miss Justin Fields)

No. 6 quarterback in college football: Dillon Gabriel, UCF

UCF faced some relative uncertainty at quarterback last season after McKenzie Milton’s devastating injury at the conclusion of the 2018 season. However, true freshman Dillon Gabriel stepped into the role and eased the minds of fans in Orlando. Yes, the Knights lost three games, two more than they had in the previous two years combined. But Gabriel individually showed he has the goods.

In his first season at the helm, Gabriel completed only 59.3 percent of his throws but still threw for 3,653 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also rushed for four touchdowns as well on the year. Though he wasn’t necessarily efficient at all times and was far from perfect, for a freshman starter, he left a ton of reasons to be optimistic about his future.

One of the great things that Gabriel did throughout his true freshman season was limit the big mistake. Yes, he threw seven picks — but in the high-octane UCF offense and the number of times he threw, that’s actually an impressive number. When you combine that with his knack for making plays so early in his career, that’s extremely promising.

Now that he has a year of experience under his belt, Gabriel should take a nice leap forward as a sophomore for UCF. In a year where a Group of 5 team could possibly run the table and make a case for a College Football Playoff spot, the young quarterback will be the linchpin in UCF’s chances of being that team.