Brett Gabbert takes the snap, drops back three steps, then lets the ball loose. He throws it about 30 yards downfield to receiver Lynel Billups-Williams on a post route.
The ball soars through the air, a perfect spiral gliding through the sky like a bird, and hits Billups-Williams right in his open arms. Gabbert looks as calm and at ease as a 10-year veteran, having made the throw thousands of times in his six years at Miami University.
Every couple of throws, he will reach down toward his right leg, feeling a scar on his knee: A reminder of the day one year ago that changed his life forever – a day that didn’t just almost take away his ability to play football, but also his ability to walk.
On Oct. 21, 2023, the RedHawks welcomed the University of Toledo Rockets to Yager Stadium. Late into the third quarter, Miami drove down the field, down 21-10, and fought to the Rockets’ 10-yard line.
Gabbert took the snap for a quarterback sneak, and Toledo stopped him a few yards past the line of scrimmage.
As he was tackled, a defensive lineman fell on his right leg. As soon as he hit the ground, he let out a scream of pain. Everyone on the field turned away in shock. His bone was sticking out of his leg, blood dripping down his sock.
In a flash, head coach Chuck Martin was on the field kneeling next to him. Every player was on his knees. Fans could have heard a pin drop at Yager that day.
An ambulance arrived and took Gabbert to the hospital for an emergency surgery to place a metal rod in his leg.
For many collegiate quarterbacks, this would have been it. At the time, even Martin thought this was the last snap of Gabbert’s impressive career with Miami.
“Most people would have hung up,” Martin said. “I got on the field, his bone is sticking out of his leg, and he’s like, ‘Coach, I’m done, I can’t do this anymore.’ He loves being in the arena, he loves being out there, he loves the pressure. And I think that's a big reason he keeps coming back, because he lives for these moments.”
Brett Gabbert’s season statistics throughout his Miami career
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Gabbert grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, with a football in his hands from the day he could walk. The youngest of three sons, Gabbert always looked up to his older brothers, Blaine and Tyler.
Both of his brothers played Division I football as well, and Blaine even reached the NFL, playing 13 seasons and earning two Super Bowl rings as a backup on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.
Watching his brothers’ success on the field was a major contributing factor for Gabbert to want to play the sport.
“You grow up going to their games, whether it's high school or college, and you see them out there playing quarterback, and in my head, I was like ‘Oh, it's really cool, you know, it’s maybe something I’d want to do one day,’” Gabbert said. “When I started playing football, I absolutely loved it, and it’s never changed.”
While playing for Christian Brothers High School in Missouri, Gabbert was a two-time state champion and was named the 2018 6A Missouri offensive player of the year. He finished his high school career with a 36-4 record.
Coming out of high school, he received multiple offers from Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools, but eventually chose Miami.
In 2019, his first season with the team, Gabbert already made a massive mark on the program. When he took the field for the season-opener against the University of Iowa Hawkeyes, he became the first ever true first-year quarterback to start a game in Miami football history.
In his 14 starts, Gabbert threw for 2,411 yards and 11 touchdowns, receiving the team’s Offensive Newcomer of the Year award, as well as winning the MAC Freshman of the Year award.
His success brought Miami to the MAC championship against the Central Michigan University Chippewas, where he won the first conference title for Miami since 2010.
His electric 2019 season was followed by a short three-game season due to COVID-19. Gabbert played in two of those games, throwing for 384 yards and four touchdowns.
The 2021 season would be Gabbert’s best yet. He threw for 2,648 yards and 26 touchdowns, including at least one touchdown every game. Between two games in November, he totaled 843 yards and nine touchdowns against the Ohio University Bobcats and the University of Buffalo Bulls.
His performance earned him Third Team All-MAC and a postseason appearance at the Frisco Bowl, which the RedHawks won after Gabbert threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
By 2022, Gabbert had established himself as a legitimate threat to take Ben Roethlisberger’s title as the best Miami quarterback of all time. He entered the new season on a number of award watch lists for the best quarterbacks in the country
However, a number of injuries led to unforeseen setbacks that would truly test Gabbert’s resilience. After putting up 816 yards and four touchdowns in four games, Gabbert missed the rest of the year with a shoulder injury.
In the offseason, Gabbert decided to enter the transfer portal, a move he says he regrets now.
No matter how many other offers he had, he said he knew his place was with the Red & White.
“It was ultimately a horrible decision on my part,” Gabbert said. “It was my decision, no one else’s. I just felt like everything was going against me. I thought, ‘You know, I need a change to kind of rebound.’ I told my coaches and teammates this as soon as I entered the portal. It was … probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made.”
Gabbert playing in front of 77,000 at Notre Dame on Sept. 21
Gabbert returned in 2023 and started out hot. In his first eight games of the season, he compiled 1,634 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, as well as 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Miami looked incredible with a hard-fought victory over the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and a 3-0 run in conference play.
However, his season would be cut short with a simple run play altering his life forever.
For several months after the Toledo injury, Gabbert couldn’t even walk, let alone take snaps. Despite the severity of the injury, he has never let it get him down. Having to begin everything from square one, including learning how to walk again, taught him valuable life lessons.
“At one point, my goal was to be able to walk and jog OK – Football was more of an afterthought,” Gabbert said. “It definitely changes your perspective on a lot of things, even your outlook on life, just looking at things glass half. You don't really know what it’s like until you go through it, so once you're put in that position, you quickly learn to not take things for granted and be grateful for what you have.”
If Gabbert was going to come back and play at the level he once did, his training and overall preparation for the 2024 campaign needed to be at full throttle.
And a major contributor to his return was quarterbacks coach Gus Ragland.
“He spent a ton of time in the training room,” Ragland said. “He's really just taking it to the next level. He had to make some adjustments early in the offseason in terms of what he’s doing, what kind of lifts he was doing. So he’s back to doing everything right now and feeling good every day.”
It is now his sixth season of college football, and he looks to bring home a second straight MAC championship, the third of his career.
Gabbert walking onto the field at the start of the Ohio University matchup, one year after his Toledo injury
Nearly one year after his 2023 injury, Miami faced Central Michigan at home. Midway through the second quarter, Gabbert dropped back but was sacked.
After the chaos of the play cleared up, he remained on the ground, holding his left shoulder.
As RedHawk fans held their breaths in fear, he was taken off the field, leaving spectators in despair at another potential serious injury.
But if there is one thing that Gabbert’s leg injury a year prior has taught Miami fans, it is that there is not a tougher and more resilient quarterback in the entire conference.
Martin intended to keep backup quarterback Henry Hesson in, but at half, Gabbert pleaded his case. He wasn’t going to let another injury sideline him.
“He was cleared to go back in, but he was hurting,” Martin said. “[Henry] may not be exactly what we want, but we’re doing fine with him. Brett came over and basically told us, ‘I’m going back in, coach. I came back, this is all I got.’”
Gabbert returned in the second half, throwing a touchdown pass midway through the third quarter en route to a 46-7 domination over the Chippewas.
He would finish the game completing 10 of 12 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown, once again proving that there is nothing he cannot come back from.
Through his six seasons, Gabbert has accomplished plenty. He already ranks third all time in Miami history in touchdowns, passing yards and total yards, trailing only Roethlisberger and Zac Dystert. Nevertheless, he said his main sources of pride mainly come from wins, and resilience.
“You know, at one point, the goal for me was just to be able to walk alright,” Gabbert said. “And then from that point to get to where I am today, being able to play again, which not many people thought I could. Being able to do that is probably my proudest moment ever.”
Martin has seen tremendous growth from the star quarterback over the years. From his first MAC championship to now, Gabbert has grown into a true leader for the RedHawks.
“As a leader, [he is] just a very, very self-motivated young man,” Martin said. “He has really grown as far as being a vocal leader, as far as helping his teammates, as far as helping guys understand not only what to do on the field, but even off the field, how to conduct your life off the field.”
There is still plenty of season left to be played, but no matter how many wins the RedHawks rack up, how many yards and touchdown passes Gabbert throws for, one thing is for certain; Iron Man Brett Gabbert is a Miami legend, and his mark on the program will remain forever.
