Dillon Gabriel throws shade at Josh Heupel for taking Tennessee job

UCF quarterback Dillon Gabriel doesn’t appear to be missing his former head coach Josh Heupel, who left for Tennessee.

Dillon Gabriel was recruited to UCF by Josh Heupel. He became his quarterback as a true freshman. He threw for 61 touchdowns in two seasons in his offense.

But the two days after the head coach took the Tennessee job and left UCF weren’t days for moping.

In fact, the junior quarterback jumped on Twitter to throw some serious shade at his former head coach instead.

He later responded to a tweet from a teammate affirming the closeness of the UCF squad in the wake of Heupel’s departure.

https://twitter.com/_dillongabriel_/status/1355221262495322112?s=20

UCF’s quarterback Dillon Gabriel isn’t crying over Josh Heupel’s departure

When news of Heupel’s hiring at Tennessee emerged, it was clear he could have handled the situation better.

“Lol…No goodbye? Not even a phone call? Crazyyyy,” Gabriel posted on Instagram.

Since then, Gabriel and fellow teammates have actively campaigned for former quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who is an assistant at Ole Miss, to be hired as the new head coach.

Heupel moved on quickly. UCF’s players are doing the same.

Even before he burned bridges by moving to Tennessee, Heupel’s reputation at UCF wasn’t sterling. He led the Knights to a 12-1 record in his first year after taking over for Scott Frost. However, the program has experienced a slight dip since then. In 2019 they came second in the AAC with a 10-3 record. In 2020 they were 6-4.

Will Heupel or UCF’s players get the last laugh in all of this? Both will have a lot to prove over the next few years.

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