"Hell of a season" - Dillon Gabriel's fiancee has his back after Oregon's blowout loss to dominant Ohio State 

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel had led the Ducks to a dominant season that included the Big Ten championship before Wednesday's Rose Bowl clash against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Even with the presence of the Heisman finalist, the Ducks were blown away 41-21 in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

Gabriel tallied 299 yards and two touchdowns on 70.7% passing, and after the game, his fiancee, Zo Caswell, posted a picture on Instagram of herself hugging him.

"Hell of a season. So proud of everything you and this team have accomplished. I love you @dillongabriel," Zo Caswell wrote in the caption.

Caswell's IG stories

Dillon Gabriel and Zo Caswell met as seventh-graders

During an interview with "KOIN 6 NEWS" on Monday, Zo Caswell, who moved with Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to Eugene from Oklahoma, said that she met Gabriel in 2014 when they were in the seventh grade and told a hilarious anecdote of their first meeting.

“We met in the summer of sixth to seventh grade actually, because we were both new to this school," Caswell said. "We had a little orientation class. We met gardening, funny enough. He kept coming closer and closer to me and I was like, ‘Who’s this weird guy?’ I would’ve never imagined our life to be like this.

Despite knowing each other for years, the couple started dating in the 11th grade. In the interview, she said that she still gets anxious during Dillon Gabriel's football games despite watching them over the years.

“I’m so anxious. I’m so stressed out. I’m a mess, honestly,” Caswell said. “Everything goes through my mind, but it is fun at the same time, and obviously when you get the win at the end of the day, it’s the best. I’ve gotten really close with a lot of the girlfriends on the team.

"He’s also gotten really close with a lot of the guys. I think that was one of our goals coming in. We knew we’d be here for only a year, and I think when you know that you can either say, ‘Hey, I’m going to keep to myself. We only have a year,’ or you could choose to go out and make friends and open yourself up.”

The next stop for Dillon Gabriel and Zo Caswell is the NFL via the 2025 draft where he is projected to be among the first quarterbacks off the board in ESPN's latest mock draft.