Dillon Gabriel and Tez Johnson sharpen connection as Oregon Ducks cruise past UCLA Bruins
In Oregon's Big Ten debut, the Ducks treated the Bruins just like old times.
PASADENA — “Dillon with you?”
Oregon had banked its first Big Ten win and the Ducks didn’t intend on sticking around any longer than they needed to. Certainly not in the bowels of the Rose Bowl as the clock crept towards midnight, against an opponent, the UCLA Bruins, who were by no means of victory lap caliber.
Yet as receiver Tez Johnson entered the visitor’s media room flanked by defensive end Jordan Burch, a member of the Ducks’ athletic department delayed the start of the press conference, giving them the directive to check the hallway for their quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, all the same.
“He’s short,” Johnson joked, “he gets lost in the crowd sometimes.”
That’s when Johnson, himself a slender figure, walked to the farthest of three chairs and sat down before announcing to the far more imposing Burch, and the rest of the room, that they’d be saving the middle chair for Gabriel or, as he put it, “QB1.”
They say the best connections are formed off the field, right? It’s safe to say Johnson’s a believer in going the extra mile.