Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has the No. 1-ranked Ducks rolling at 11-0.

The Mililani product has broken an NCAA record for career touchdowns, is a Heisman Trophy contender and has the Ducks in prime position of earning a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoffs.

Life must be good.

But to think, all this came from a rejection.

And we can thank whoever handed him his NFL Draft evaluation for all his continued success in college and heretofore happiness.

According to an article by Barkley Truax of On3, Gabriel received a seventh-round or undrafted NFL Draft grade before he decided to transfer to the Eugene, Ore., campus.

“I mean, I understand that it’s the facts,” Gabriel told Will Compton on an episode of ‘Bussin’ With The Boys.’ “So I’m not gonna — when I’m presented that I feel like, you know, that’s just what it is. Right? And whether I like it or not, that’s the facts and I had to live with it and make a decision based off of that. It’s just not the best feeling.”

Those facts — a small stature at 5 feet 10½ and according to scouts, average athleticism and arm — have carried over to this season.

Before the season, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, the author of “The Beast,” a dictionary-size NFL Draft report, listed Gabriel as the 14th-best senior quarterback. That list didn’t include underclassmen QBs such as Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Penn State’s Drew Allar and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.

On Wednesday, Brugler dropped a sneak preview with his top 50 NFL Draft prospects and he had four quarterbacks among them.

Miami of Florida’s Cam Ward was No. 16, Milroe 22nd, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders 23rd and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier 30th.

Sure, I wouldn’t expect Gabriel to be in the top 50. But come on, the man knows how to play quarterback.

Plus, the quarterback position never follows their overall prospects ranking, simply because of a need basis and the NFL team’s impatience with quarterbacks.

For example, Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt said all the NFL scouts he’s talked with say Sanders will be the No. 1 quarterback picked and might be the No. 1 pick overall.

With that said, an undrafted grade for Gabriel seems pretty harsh, especially for a player with deceptively quick feet, shiftiness, good pocket presence, a quick release, fairly good good zip and deep-ball accuracy.

Gabriel is draft-worthy and I think the perfect fit might be the Miami Dolphins, playing and learning behind Tua Tagovailoa.

Gabriel not only played in the state at Central Florida but also shares Tagovailoa’s skill-set.

Besides both being left-handed, they both are quick-timing passers who like to attack deep when the opportunity presents itself. They’re competitive with lots of moxie, though they could learn to slide earlier. The ball comes off their hands with similar velocity and pace. In fact, I thought Gabriel, after watching his career his career at UCF and then Oklahoma, was a better deep-ball thrower than Bo Nix, his popular predecessor at Oregon and the Denver Broncos first-round pick and starting QB.

Plus, Gabriel has got to be better than Skylar Thompson, right?

When Tua’s out and Thompson — or whoever comes after — is in, the Dolphins offense basically goes into shutdown mode.

Gabriel definitely deserves a chance to show what he can do — much like Brock Purdy.

Furthermore, give Gabriel credit for using his smarts. After accepting his NFL rejection, he looked at his options and picked the perfect scheme fit for his talents in deciding to play for Oregon’s Dan Lanning and offensive coordinator Will Stein.

So, for personal selfish reasons being part of three generations of Ducks, I hope to see Gabriel enjoy this ride for as far as he can take it.

The NFL snub has been Oregon’s gain.

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Reach Curtis Murayama at cmurayama@staradvertiser.com.