Senior Bowl QBs Dillon Gabriel, Riley Leonard look to restore 'Brady phenomenon'

MOBILE, Ala. — The top quarterbacks trying to help their draft stock here are putting the Senior in Senior Bowl, well-traveled passers who have excelled for two if not three college programs, playing six and even seven seasons to build up experience for the NFL.

Take Dillon Gabriel, who fittingly wore an Oregon helmet at Wednesday's practice, but one also proudly bearing stickers from Central Florida and Oklahoma, his first two college stops. The 24-year-old Gabriel played three years at UCF and two at Oklahoma before shining this past season at Oregon, finishing fourth in Heisman voting. His career numbers are impressive: 64 games and NCAA records with 18,722 passing yards and 155 touchdown passes.

"You can't get live reps as a quarterback until you go and experience it yourself, go through the ebbs and flows of what seasons, back to back, look like," Gabriel said. "You try to get as much football as you can, and I've used all that experience to my advantage as I try to continue learning more."

Gabriel is still younger than Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough, here in Mobile as a 25-year-old who spent three seasons each at Oregon and Texas Tech before breaking through last fall with the Cardinals, passing for 23 touchdowns against six interceptions.

The best arms here are taking connecting flights to the NFL: Riley Leonard, who just played in the national championship game for Notre Dame, spent most of his college years at Duke; Jaxson Dart, another top quarterback prospect from Ole Miss, spent his freshman year at USC.

"I really like having the exposure, having interviews with coaches, getting to play with these great players and just learning," Dart said. "That's really what I'm here to do is take in as much wisdom as