Saturday’s football game between UCLA and No. 8-ranked Oregon will be an example of the NCAA transfer portal’s butterfly effect.

Dillon Gabriel, who decided to leave Central Florida after the 2021 season, was committed to and nearly ended up at UCLA. As he told Yahoo Sports’ Adam Breneman back in May 2023:

“I remember maybe the day before leaving to UCLA, I get the call,” Gabriel recalled. “It was a funny 48 hours to that decision. … I had my suitcase out and stuff.”

That call was from former Oklahoma offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby, who convinced Gabriel to flip his commitment to the Sooners on the same Monday in early January 2022 that former Oklahoma freshman quarterback Caleb Williams entered the portal prior to ending up at USC.

Williams, of course, followed Lincoln Riley to Los Angeles, and a week after Gabriel’s flip the Bruins got quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to return despite former head coach Chip Kelly’s suggestion to enter the NFL draft.

After two seasons in Norman, Okla., Gabriel was back in the portal this past December and ended up at Oregon nine days before former five-star UCLA freshman Dante Moore announced his decision to head to Eugene and the school he was once originally committed to play for.