Hours before her son Dillon is to step on the football field to lead the UCF Knights, Dori Gabriel gets an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It’s the same feeling she’s experienced each time her son takes the field to compete.
“Probably around noon or so, depending on the time of the game, I just start to feel sick to my stomach,” Dori said. “… I usually don’t eat because I’m so overcome and I’m so excited that when we get to the game and hear the music and the introductions and the coin toss — I literally want to jump out of my skin because there’s my son there with all this pressure and I know how bad he wants to deliver a victory with his team.