Better Know a Buckeye: Torrance Gibson

The 17th installment of this year's Better Know a Buckeye series profiles Torrance Gibson. Gibson is not the highest-ranked prospect in Ohio State's 2015 signing class, but he might be the most well-known.

Gibson is an electrifying quarterback (or athlete) prospect from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. who was headlining nationally televised high school football games and ESPN's "Top Ten Plays" segment as a junior in high school. Ohio State extended a scholarship offer on March 1, 2013 and persisted in recruiting him even as his high national profile increased. The reward came on Nov. 3 of last year when Gibson committed to the Buckeyes. He signed with Ohio State notwithstanding last-minute second thoughts about Auburn, LSU, and Miami when Tom Herman announced he would leave for Houston after the season ended.

I retell this recruitment below and discuss the context of his commitment to Ohio State. Thereafter, I provide a scouting report for an athlete prospect who is drawing favorable comparisons to other athletic quarterbacks like Terrelle Pryor or Michael Vick. I offer a projection of Gibson as a candidate to play as a true freshman notwithstanding the Buckeyes' quarterback logjam. I conclude with highlight film for the reader to watch.

HIS RECRUITMENT

Ohio State's scholarship offer came to Torrance Gibson on the first of March in 2013, just a few months after his sophomore season. This may seem early in the process to offer, but Ohio State was hardly alone by this point; Gibson already boasted offers from Boston College, Miami, and Notre Dame. More offers would follow in the spring before his sophomore year of high school ended. By June, Gibson had acquired offers from other programs like Nebraska, North Carolina, South Florida, and West Virginia. Florida State came calling in August.

Gibson's recruitment idled through the fall of 2013 while he allowed his athletic prowess to recruit for him. American Heritage participated in a few high-profile and televised contests en route to a state title that year that showcased Torrance Gibson as one of the true elite prospects in the 2015 class. This led to even more scholarship offers from programs like LSU and Penn State during the fall.

Ohio State maintained its position as possibly the team to beat in all-too-early projections about Gibson's recruitment. Though Gibson said he knew little of Ohio State beyond Urban Meyer, he got a glimpse of the program for himself in late December when he visited one of the Buckeyes' Orange Bowl practices in Miami.

Most casual Ohio State fans who know about Torrance Gibson know of him for the path his recruitment took in the winter and early spring of 2014. Even more programs offered, including Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. This resulted in a spring break road trip to Oklahoma, LSU, Auburn, Clemson, Tennessee, and Florida near the end of March. Each stop along the way resulted in glowing remarks about the respective program that seemed to push Ohio State further down the list of possible landing spots. Gibson was still interested in Ohio State, but had yet to visit.

This stretch in Gibson's recruitment coincided with some turmoil or other minor controversies. For one, Gibson's Twitter devolved to a constant stream of updates about which schools were "rising" or which ones were "falling" from his perspective. He also seemed to vacillate in how he handled his evaluation timeline. He announced in the spring he wanted to commit early before forgoing that route and pledging to take five official visits.

Around the same time, Gibson unveiled a "top 15" list of schools that he was considering, which almost perfectly correlated with the number and list of scholarship offers he had to that point. There was also a suspension from school and team-related activities that momentarily jeopardized his entire recruitment. Eleven Warriors' Jeremy Birmingham summarized the reservation of college coaches as a concern for Gibson's maturity level. Put another way, Gibson had an incredible burden, an incredible spotlight, and an incredible opportunity that he was handling poorly in more than one way.

The fork in the road for Gibson did not come in a home or school office in Fort Lauderdale, but in Beaverton, Oregon for The Opening. Surrounded by other elite athlete prospects and other quarterbacks on his level (or possibly beyond it), Gibson acquiesced to participating in wide receiver drills. He even pushed himself to compete through a sore ankle. Assistant coaches for American Heritage told Eleven Warriors that a different player with a different mindset returned from that trip to Oregon. Gibson realized that he was en route to wasting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on the mistaken assumption that his talent level alone was sufficient to earn the attention he did. Perhaps it was, but it would not get him far beyond that. Gibson learned this before it was too late.

This also coincided with a visit to Ohio State for Friday Night Lights with a new approach after this change of mindset in Oregon. Gibson was not content to be seen at that camp; he wanted to compete. Gibson participated in the camp as a quarterback prospect, participating in drills and being evaluated by Urban Meyer and Tom Herman as if he were any other prospect.

Friday Night Lights was also Gibson's first visit to Ohio State. Beyond a learning experience, Gibson got to see Ohio State's campus and facilities for himself, and reconnect with Urban Meyer. He came back with glowing remarks that exceeded previous remarks made on visits to places like Oklahoma and Tennessee.

From there, Gibson carried himself on social media as if he were already an Ohio State commitment. All that was left was an announcement that came several months later in November.

HIS COMMITMENT

On Nov. 3, 2014, Torrance Gibson announced his commitment to Ohio State as the 17th member of Ohio State's recruiting class.

For Gibson, it was about listening to the heart and not necessarily the mind.

"My mind was always thinking about somewhere else," Gibson said. "But my heart was always telling me to choose Ohio State. Whenever I talked to the coaches, the players, whoever; it always felt like family."

Ohio State fans also remember this situation did not remain static in the following months. Not long after Tom Herman announced he would leave for Houston at the end of the season, Gibson announced that the nature of his recruitment had "changed". He took an official visit to Auburn and followed this with official visits to LSU and Miami. An in-home visit from Urban Meyer and Zach Smith on Jan. 29 of this year, the day before an official visit to Miami, was important in convincing Gibson to sign with Ohio State five days later.

WHERE HE EXCELS

I generally do not like making player comparisons in these sections because they are simplistic at best and intellectually dishonest at worst. Gibson has drawn comparisons from Ohio State fans to recent players like Terrelle Pryor and Ted Ginn so often. I'm not sure either are necessarily appropriate. Gibson is smaller than Pryor, though bigger than Ginn. Ginn was not a valid quarterback threat (2004 Alamo Bowl notwithstanding), even if the long strides are similar. If pressed for a comparison, I'm inclined to go with Michael Vick. That might be putting too much emphasis on the mutual left-handedness, but I think that might be the best comparison.

I can write these sections for dual-threat quarterbacks that underline how raw the prospect is in the passing game, but that does a disservice to Gibson's recent development. For a guy with his proclivity and ability to scramble if the first or second progression is not open, Gibson still does a lot of little things better than I expected. His footwork is well ahead of where Braxton Miller and Terrelle Pryor at similar stages. His delivery also shows much more polish than Pryor. I will defer to those more adept at evaluating quarterback prospects, but I don't see as much of the "windup and the pitch" delivery of a quarterback like Tim Tebow. It may not be perfect (and can be improved), but Gibson's delivery is ahead of what I would have expected.

Still, Gibson is an athlete prospect the extent to which he can make plays with his feet. He definitely can. I can describe it in words or allow the reader to see it for her/himself at the end of this feature. He is too fast, too quick, and can change directions too well for most defenders to handle. That Gibson is also comfortable with delivering a stiff-arm and fighting through tackles is an added bonus.

MUST WORK ON

Both Torrance Gibson and Terrelle Pryor share a mutual limitation about the intermediate passing game at similar stages in their career. Watch a passing highlight film of both. It will be either bubble screens or long bombs. The long bombs are great (and Gibson has the arm strength for it), but there is just not a lot to see of Gibson standing in the pocket, going through progressions, and delivering a ball on an intermediate route. 

These are important. These throws require the most touch. Further, even electric athletes become one-dimensional if the second read devolves to just "run". College defenses will better contain Gibson than high school defenses did in Florida.

While I praise Gibson for being ahead of similar players at similar stages for his footwork and his throwing mechanics, these can be inconsistent. I put that comment in the previous section because I think he has made great strides on this from junior to senior.

The bigger curiosity about Gibson is if he's really a quarterback. Ohio State fans will no doubt compare Gibson's career trajectory not to just Terrelle Pryor, but to Joe Burrow in his own class. Burrow is a true quarterback-or-bust prospect. I think he's clearly ahead of Gibson as a thrower even if Gibson has a clear advantage in overall athleticism. At this stage, though, athleticism isn't a panacea nor is it a decisive or sufficient attribute for a spread quarterback. Chip Kelly may have revolutionized this within spread-to-run college football offenses. At the end of the day, the quarterback needs to make the right throws, not just run the ball as in previous versions of Meyer's spread offense.

All this said, is Gibson really a quarterback or an athlete waiting to become an NFL wide receiver? Gibson is open to playing wide receiver, though wants to compete at quarterback. If Gibson wants to thrive at quarterback, he has a longer way to go than if he wants to make plays at wide receiver.

REDSHIRT?

I expect Joe Burrow to redshirt in 2015 while my hunch is Gibson plays as a true freshman. Ohio State has four quarterbacks on the roster with eligibility to burn, but Gibson may get his feet wet on gadget plays as a true freshman.

HIGHLIGHTS

These are from Gibson's senior year.