During his weekly availability, UCF offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby spoke about Dillon Gabriel's first start at FAU, the process of now fully-cleared Darriel Mack Jr. re-acclimating back into the offense and the status of Brandon Wimbush.
After going back and looking at the film, what was your evaluation of Dillon Gabriel's first start?
"He did some good things. He did some things that we need to clean up. Obviously, we had huge chunk plays in the throw game and the run game which took some stress off of him which we were hoping to continue to create. It's who we are, always been. But he did a good job. He took care of the football. We've talked a lot about that since he got here and he did a did a good job it."
What was he like just leading up to the game? He's a young guy, a true freshman being put out there. I know he played the first week, but knowing he was going to start.
"He was himself. And it was good to see. It really was. We were in the hotel Friday and Saturday morning and it just felt good that he was himself and you could tell that he was confident in what he was about to go do. That made everybody else feel good.
With Darriel Mack being available, how tough is it trying to mix him into this?
"First of all, it's good to have D.J. back and him healthy. That's been a huge advantage and we're going to kind of work through things and see where it ends up.
How big of a hurdle is it for Mack not going through camp, missing all that valuable time?
"The thing that helps D.J. is that he has played, and he's been in the room every single day. And so that part of it has helped him. He's got experience, which you gotta live, and that's that's a big part of it. But he's knocked the rust off and he's doing a good job."
A lot of teams would kill to have one guy that can win at quarterback and you guys have three or maybe four. How do you evaluate who gives you the best chance to win every week?
"That's our job. That's why they call us coaches. We got to put our guys in positions of success regardless of who's taking the snap. I've said that a bunch. We want guys that are going to give great production and take care of the football. On a week to week basis we'll make decisions based on those things, who puts us in the best situations and gives us the best predictable outcomes. Those are the guys that are going to play."
Coach Heupel said Brandon Wimbush wasn't 100 percent last week. Is he back?
"Brandon's had a good week. He really has. He's done a good job. He feels good. That's been been good to see."
Do you know if Wimbush will be able to play?
"Feel like Brandon will. He will. He's had a good week. We feel good about him."
Can you talk about Dillon's poise as a true freshman, the confidence he has to sling it deep?
"I think I've talked about that a ton throughout the spring, the summer, fall camp, the kid has great confidence. People believe in him. As soon as he steps into a room, he can own a room and that's a huge part of playing the position. He's done a great job of that. That was no surprise to us the other night."
What about the fact that he didn't really think that starting was that big of a deal?
"Absolutely. And that's why we felt good about him. That's why we've got great confidence in him. Because he's himself every single day. He is truly the same guy every single day. Saturday mornings in the hotel and meetings, there was nothing new for him. He felt really good about the plan and went and executed."
What do you see from Stanford? They've got an NFL corner in Paulson Adebo.
"Their personnel is really good. That's an established defense. Those guys have been there for a long time. They know exactly what they're doing. They play fast, they play hard. They're really good on third down. They've done a good job creating turnovers. So it's a group that comes in and after last week they'll be ready to play but so we will."
With what you saw from USC playing Stanford, can you zero in how they were able to have success?
"We've got really good tape from the first two weeks. Northwestern from a set standpoint and USC as well. So we've got good tape to watch. We feel good about our plan."
What was KZ's role in the FAU game? I know he couldn't be at the first game, but he was down at FAU. How was he on the sideline working with Dillon?
"He was great. KZ has been unbelievable every single day. From an experience standpoint, a guy that's been able to live it with us for a year and now being able to help Dillon through some things. Being someone Dillon can talk to on the sidelines. There's great familiarity there. He's been a huge part of us offensively every day."
You're up in the booth, so how much does help knowing you've got guys like KZ that can talk to him when you can't always be on the phone?
"It's great. Mitch, our offensive GA is down there. Obviously Coach Heup. So we've got plenty of people to get the job done. And then I'll talk to him between every series at least once, maybe twice on the phone to make sure everybody's on the same page, but we've got a good setup."
