Brett Gabbert is in his sixth year at Miami (Ohio). He’s 24 years old and has made 39 starts for the RedHawks in his career. He is the third-leading passer in school history and one of the most seasoned quarterbacks you can find in the NCAA this season.

Yet he feels as excited about Saturday’s opener against Northwestern as he has been for any game since the first game of his freshman year, way back in 2019.

Why? Because he wasn’t sure he would ever play football again after suffering a severe leg injury last October that sidelined him for the last six games of the season.

“I mean, Year One, you're just so excited to be a college football player, and then I ended up starting versus Iowa, so that's definitely a moment I'll never forget for the rest of my life,” he said.

“And then this year is pretty special, too, because there was probably a couple months there where I didn't think I was going to play again. So this one will be up there with Year One in regard to how special it is.”

It’s going to be a special opener for Northwestern, too. The Wildcats, coming off of a surprising 8-5 season that included a bowl win, will be playing their first game in a new, temporary stadium. Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium will serve as the program’s home field for this season and next, while Ryan Field is undergoing an $800 million rebuild about a mile away.

With seating for fewer than 15,000 fans and stands about a first down away from Lake Michigan, the stadium will offer maybe the most unique experience in college football.

But they picked a doozy of an opponent for the opener.

Miami, the defending MAC champions, went 11-3 last season. And they have their leader back in Gabbert, who has thrown for nearly 8,000 passing yards and has 59 touchdown passes to his credit.

Last Oct. 21, Gabbert didn’t think he’d be playing in this game. That was the day he had to be carted off the field strapped to a stretcher and the RedHawks went on to lose to Toledo, 21-17.

It was the second straight year that Gabbert missed a big chunk of the season with an injury: in 2022, a non-throwing shoulder injury limited him to just four games.

The loss of Gabbert last season seemed to galvanize the RedHawks, who won their next five games in a row behind backup Aveon Smith, including a win over Toledo in the MAC championship game. The magic ran out in a loss to Appalachian State in the Cure Bowl last December.

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Gabbert said he wasn’t sure he would be able to play against Northwestern until a little over a month ago, when he had a breakthrough in his rehab process and started to feel like himself again.

“I mean, there was probably about nine and a half months where I didn't know if I was going to be ready Week One,” he said. “I didn't know if I was going to do fall camp.

“But then there was a period in July where I kind of turned the corner and started to feel back to 100% healthy. So I'm ready to go.”

The rest of the RedHawks are ready to go, too. Gabbert will have four returning starters on the offensive line protecting him.

But the backbone of last year’s Miami team was defense. Toledo was the only MAC team that broke the 20-point mark against the RedHawks, who wound up eighth in the country in scoring defense after allowing less than 16 points per game.

Another sixth-year player, linebacker Matt Salopek, last year’s MAC defensive player of the year, leads the RedHawks’ defense. Salopek rang up a remarkable 143 tackles last season, including 8.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception. He and fellow linebacker Ty Wise, who had 122 stops of his own, are the heart of a salty unit that has five other returning starters.

Salopek knows that the RedHawks will be challenged by a Northwestern offense that not only features Big Ten players who might be bigger and faster than they’re used to, but also has a new offensive coordinator in Zach Lujan from South Dakota State. That makes preparation tricky.

The Wildcats also haven’t named a starting quarterback as of yet, though grad transfer Mike Wright is considered the favorite to get the nod over redshirt sophomore Jack Lausch.

Regardless of who lines up behind center, Salopek says that he’s “not really sure” what Northwestern will try to do on offense. Being able to make adjustments on the fly will be critical, he added, as Lujan’s game plan reveals itself.

One thing Miami won’t be is intimidated by playing the Wildcats. All-time, the RedHawks have won seven of 10 games against Northwestern, including a 7-2 mark in Evanston. The RedHawks beat the Wildcats, 17-14, at Ryan Field in 2022 in the two programs’ last meeting.

Gabbert sat out that 2022 game with an injury. He’ll be out there this time, though, and soaking up every moment of it.