Miami QB Brett Gabbert set to cap colossal comeback at Arizona Bowl | Michael Lev

Sprawled out on the turf at his home stadium on homecoming, Brett Gabbert wondered if this was it.

The fifth-year senior at Miami (Ohio) had suffered a horrific injury, breaking the tibia and fibula in his right leg against Toledo on Oct. 21, 2023.

“The most gruesome thing I’ve ever been a part of,” RedHawks coach Chuck Martin recalled.

Martin tried to comfort his veteran quarterback as trainers and medical personnel surrounded him. The scene was surreal. Gabbert was in agony.

“I remember laying on the field,” he said. “I was like, ‘Dang, this is really how I’m gonna go out?’”

It wasn’t how Gabbert wanted his story to end. He already had come back from a broken left collarbone and a severe ankle sprain. He’d come back to Miami after a brief stint in the transfer portal to finish his career there the right way.

This wasn’t that. So Gabbert decided to go for it. One more comeback. One final season of college football.

Despite the pain and frustration — hurdles both physical and psychological — Gabbert made it through to the other side. He started all 13 games this season for the RedHawks, and he’s about to make it 14 when Miami faces Colorado State in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl on Saturday.

As he practiced with his teammates Thursday morning at Arizona Stadium — flinging passes all over the yard — Gabbert wore a long white sleeve on his right leg. It was the only sign of the trauma he’d endured.

‘Like a war movie’

Miami trailed Toledo 21-10 late in the third quarter, but the RedHawks were on the doorstep. They faced second-and-goal from the 2-yard line. The call was a QB run.

“I’m running into D-lineman, a bunch of big guys, O-line. It’s a big pileup,” Gabbert said. “My leg got caught, and I got bent backwards. Unfortunately, my tibia and fibula snapped.”

Toledo defensive tackle Judge Culpepper, listed at 6-4, 293 pounds, got credited with the tackle. Gabbert is listed at 6 feet, 210.

This was an uncommonly bad injury. Think Joe Theismann. Or Alex Smith. The kind of injury they show only once on TV. The kind that can end a career.

“I was sitting there on the field trying not to look at it, holding his hand,” Martin said. “He was screaming. It was like a war movie.”

In that moment, Gabbert was ready to walk away — metaphorically, at least. No one, including his coach, would have blamed him if he had.

“‘I’m done. I can’t do this anymore,’” Martin recalled Gabbert saying as his leg was being cleaned, set and air-casted. “I’m like, ‘I’m with you, brother.’”

When healthy, Gabbert had been Miami’s starter since 2019. That year, the younger brother of longtime NFL quarterback Blaine Gabbert became the first true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback in program history. He was named the MAC Freshman of the Year.

Because the pandemic season of 2020 didn’t count, and he appeared in only four games in 2022 (collarbone, ankle), Brett Gabbert had one more year of eligibility. But as the next several weeks unfolded, he wasn’t feeling it.

“I was bedridden for probably three weeks,” Gabbert said. “I couldn’t move my leg. I’m in a wheelchair. ... I wasn’t even using crutches yet. I was pretty much helpless. I couldn’t do anything on my own. That was probably the hardest part.”

Gabbert had all but made up his mind that his football-playing days were over. Then “someone special” sent him an inspirational text. He declined to say who it was. But the message “changed my perspective on the whole deal.”

“I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I don’t at least try and come back from this.’ So that’s what I did,” Gabbert said. “I gave it everything I had — full well knowing that I might give it everything I have and it might not be enough.”

Rehab isn’t fun. It will test your patience and resolve.

“We had to take it one step at a time,” Gabbert said. “There had to be small wins. It was like, ‘All right, you can bend your knee 10 more degrees.’ That was a big win in my book.”

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Gabbert repeatedly gave credit to everyone who helped him along the way, from first responders to doctors to physical therapists to trainers. He needed their encouragement during a period when it was so easy to feel discouraged. He truly couldn’t have done it without them.

“They did everything perfect,” Gabbert said. “They got me where I am today.”

From rusty to red-hot

Gabbert missed most of the offseason. He was cleared to play in the Aug. 31 opener at Northwestern. But he had another mental obstacle to clear: taking a hit.

“It’s in the back of your head,” Gabbert said. “Like, you hadn’t taken a hit in a long time, and the last one you did, you snapped your leg in half.”

Fortunately, football is fast and furious. Once you’re on the field, there’s so much else to think about — especially for a quarterback. Gabbert got past it.

But he wasn’t operating at full capacity after missing so much time. Over the first five games, Gabbert completed only 55.1% of his passes with a 5-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The RedHawks were 1-4.

Then Gabbert got hot — and so did Miami. The RedHawks won their final seven regular-season games. Over that stretch, Gabbert posted a 60.9% completion rate with 16 touchdowns and three picks.

Gabbert finished the season with a career-best 2,737 passing yards. He was named first-team All-MAC. He ranks in the top three in school history in passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense.

But one accomplishment stands above the rest.

“Everybody at Miami, more than anything, was just happy to see Brett Gabbert make it through 14 games,” Martin said.

‘It means everything’

Why were RedHawks supporters rooting so hard for Gabbert? Because loyalty is a two-way street.

Gabbert could have left Miami for a bigger school after his breakthrough season in 2021 (2,648 passing yards, 26-6 TD-INT). He could have left after the injury-shortened ‘22 campaign. If you’re a Group of Five player with talent, production and eligibility, it’s what you do nowadays.

Gabbert did, in fact, enter the portal after the ‘22 season. He had played in only four games that year. He had suffered two significant injuries.

“Nothing was really going right for me, and I was just frustrated,” he said. “I was mad at the world. I was just mad.

“I made an impulse decision — something I regretted.”

Gabbert quickly determined that he’d made a “stupid” choice. Why?

“There’s 130 teams in FBS football,” he said. “So I’m one of 130 people in the world that gets to be a starter for a college football team.”

Gabbert would have had no such guarantees at another school. There’s something to be said for appreciating what you have where you are.

“Yeah, exactly,” Gabbert said. “I took for granted what I had and ... I realized that very quick.”

Gabbert removed himself from the portal. He returned to Miami — he never left, really — with a renewed sense of purpose:

“I want to be here. I committed to Miami. I want to stay here. I want to live up to that commitment.”

Now Gabbert gets one more opportunity to wear the red and white alongside his teammates. A little over a year ago, that opportunity wasn’t promised.

“It means everything,” Gabbert said. “Can’t wait.”