When Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel met with the media last week, a phrase he kept saying was taking his recovery seriously.

Gabriel had been in concussion protocol for more than a week at that point, and you sort of had an idea of what that meant.

But as Gabriel expanded on that point following his return in OU’s 52-42 win against Kansas, now you truly understand how serious he approached the situation.

And another word, discipline. It took a great deal of day-to-day discipline, but that’s exactly what Gabriel did.

“I just took the two days, the first 48 hours, being super cautious,” Gabriel said. “Not being on my phone. Not being on any TV or watching anything. I think I was maybe awake for eight hours a day. Sleeping most of the day. So just made that a point of emphasis. The trainers, they just put me in a good spot.

“And I'm lucky to even get cleared this week because, you know a lot of people…. the severity of it is different for everyone. But, you know, I took the healing process very seriously so that I could put myself in this spot.”

Gabriel is not wrong, as there’s no real way of knowing how quickly someone is going to recover from a concussion. When you have an injury, a concern is about trying to rush back too fast instead of staying the course.

That can be amplified even more when it comes to a concussion, where it’s as much as a mental battle as a physical one.

The OU offense looked like a mess without Gabriel. Think there were a lot of OU fans who knew Gabriel was vital for the 2022 team, but had no idea just how crucial until he was out in losses at TCU and the 49-0 blanking by Texas.

It was imperative Gabriel return for OU to find its rhythm, and he made sure to not take any shortcuts or stray from the recovery plan.

“From a recovery standpoint, I could kind of notice how he was mentally,” wide receiver Marvin Mims said. “Just being around him and stuff, talking to him, having conversations where he’s there or not there. He kind of flipped pretty quick, from a recovery standpoint, I would say early last week he seemed fine, just to his normal self.”

Gabriel was confident in taking the field again. He wasn’t skittish. He wasn’t hesitant. He even ran the ball a few times, took a few hits.

Right from the jump, Gabriel and the offense hit the ground running. Or maybe air is more appropriate with how aggressive the Sooners were in the passing game.

It paid off, with Gabriel throwing for a season-high 403 yards with two touchdowns and running for another. He did have his first turnovers (3) of the season, but he was in such command and control. OU had its leader back.

“He's kind of the leader of our offense,” running back Eric Gray said. “He's kind of put himself into that role and allows us spread the ball out, keep the defense guessing and that's ultimately why we had so many yards.

“I think he did a great job of taking that week last week that he had to sit out and give himself a mental week to just learn more and be better.”

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said after the game the staff knew Gabriel would be back entering the week. It allowed Lebby to have a coming out party of sorts, totaling 701 yards of offense and reminding everybody how good of an offensive mind he is and the offense that’s there for OU this season.

That’s what the Lebby and Gabriel connection was supposed to be, and hopefully will be the rest of the season.

“Proud of the way he played,” Lebby said.