Dillon Gabriel had another monster game, Darriel Mack Jr. saw his first action of the season and Brandon Wimbush's future is likely elsewhere, possibly at wide receiver. Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby addressed all those topics during his Tuesday media availability as UCF prepares for a big game at Cincinnati this Friday.
I take it you're preparing for a hostile, loud environment? Walking in, I could hear some of the crowd noise you were playing at practice.
"Sure, getting prepared for that. It'll be a fun test on the road."
Dillon Gabriel, coming off the Pitt game and going into UConn, how did he respond?
"Dillon was himself. He really was. He did a great job all week preparing. Thought he was going to play his butt off and he did. He took care of the football. Was really accurate. A lot of things to clean up, but the man did a really good job. It was good to see."
It seems Darriel Mack has assumed the QB 2 spot. Getting his first action, what did you see?
"I thought D.J. played well. I really did. He's got to do a great job of taking care of the football. That's the biggest thing for all of us. But I thought he was accurate. He played fast. Put our guys in good position. For really not playing at all, being back to practice for a couple weeks, I think you can tell he's really talented and can do some great things, so I was proud of him."
Did it bring a smile to your face to see him Mack go out there and start hitting those passes?
"It did. His first touchdown, I got him on the phone and told him it was good to see. I was happy for him. He's been through a lot since the summer. To go out there and have some fun and play ball in front of a great home crowd, it was really good."
What's Brandon Wimbush's role on this team now?
"Brandon is incredibly talented. He can do a lot of different things. It's our job to put him in positions of success. We'll find ways to do that."
Has he been open about that?
"Brandon's been great. I've said it about the QB room the whole time. We've got a bunch of selfless guys that want to win football games, want to win championships. That's what everybody is striving for."
Coach Heupel said yesterday Wimbush could play wide receiver. He was there in the pregame before UConn. Is he just an athlete that could play running back, receiver, utilizing him different roles?
"He really is. He's a phenomenal athlete. He can do a lot of things. He can run with it. He can catch it. He can throw it. It's our job to put him in positions of success."
What are the challenges that Cincinnati brings?
"They're established. They're good defensively. They run around and have a bunch of energy. We'll have a bunch of energy as well and be ready to roll. It's about us preparing. It's about us executing. It's about us being clean and playing at the standard we believe we need to play at."
How important is it for Dillon Gabriel to go through the road experience at Pittsburgh, heading into this game against Cincinnati?
"Living what we lived a couple weeks ago is beneficial for sure for an 18 year old kid. Kind of knows what to expect going up there, a Friday night game, nationally televised, all those things. I think the best thing about Dillon is demeanor and understanding he's going to play one play at a time and put our guys in position to go win."
Looking back at Dillon's first game against Florida A&M and this past week against UConn, where has he grown the most from getting out there and getting experience?
"Situationally. That's the thing you don't know until you get on the field, the experience part of it. In certain situations, how is he going to respond. How is he going to react and what is he going to do with the football. There's been great growth that way which is critical for the position."
Is there something that he did in this last game that took a step forward from previous games?
"We talked about it two weeks ago. The biggest thing for us is taking care of the football. We've got great players. We're going to play fast and do what we do, but taking care of the football. If we continue to do that, we'll continue to say that as a staff and as a unit offensively, if we do that, we'll be in really good shape."
We don't see Dillon run much. What can he do with his legs?
"He's a guy that's been in the pocket that really has the ability to go run and make plays. Looking forward to that part of it as his career grows. He can absolutely do that as far as keeping people honest and making plays with his feet and extending. He'll do that when he needs to."
Is that something you're trying to hold him back from doing?
"It's just us offensively given the situations that we're in a specific point in time, really more than anything. And being smart from the standpoint of putting him in positions of success every single snap, every single situation. That's what we want to do more than anything."
