It's no secret: Torrance Gibson is supremely talented. Five-star recruits don't grow on trees, but when they enter college football programs, they are expected to produce early and often in their career.
Fans, media and even Ohio State's coaches jumped at every opportunity to discuss Gibson last season, a terrific talent Urban Meyer and his staff plucked from south Florida. He was one of the few 2015 commitments Meyer spoke about having a chance to be involved in Ohio State's offense last year, even though the wealth of talent on roster was extensive.
An ankle injury knocked back his development, though, after Gibson elected to turn to Meyer and tell him he wished to switch from quarterback to wide receiver in order to better his chances of lining up between the lines on Saturdays.
The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder doesn't run, he glides. He has great extension and speed. On a 2015 team desperate for a deep threat, Gibson's body looked the part after Noah Brown's season-ending leg injury in August.
It never happened, both due to his own injury and a bout with immaturity that led to him not even dressing a few home games last season because he let his grades slip.
Then came spring 2016, when Ohio State's three top receiving options — Brown, Corey Smith and Curtis Samuel — are out with injuries and Braxton Miller, Jalin Marshall and Michael Thomas are onto the NFL. Youth rules at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and a fully healthy Gibson has a golden opportunity to get noticed though he still hasn't been full-time at wide receiver for an entire calendar year.
“I tell him it takes time like any other thing, but the thing with him is your whole life you play quarterback and then come to college and switch to receiver. Well, it's gonna be a minute so you just gotta slow your roll and I think he'll be all right.”– J.T. Barrett on Torrance Gibson
"Torrance is coming around I just think the main thing with him is this is a new position," quarterback J.T. Barrett said Saturday. "He gets all beat up on himself because he wants to be great, but it's the simple fact that he hasn't done it before."
Meyer said Gibson and early enrollee Austin Mack are battling to be the starting X receiver this spring, the position Thomas owned the last two seasons. Those are humongous shoes to fill, and might be done by either Brown, Smith or someone else once they're healthy and fall camp rolls around.
Mack is talented in his own right — he became the first freshman ever under Meyer to lose his black stripe in spring ball — but Gibson's expectations will always be ridiculous because of his high-profile recruitment. He potential on the outside is staggering, and it showed its face briefly Saturday when he hauled in roughly a 50-yard catch from Barrett during Student Appreciation Day.
"He's trying hard, but we've gotta move him into that point where he's a talented guy but he's moved up with his potential," Meyer said Tuesday, speaking at length about the wide receivers unit as a whole.
"You've been here six months, if you're tagged with the term you have a lot of potential it's really a bad thing," Meyer said. "Means you're not very good but you should be. I do see that. We have some guys with potential, but that's not a positive. Means we have guys that have gifts, but we're not using them. We're not coaching them properly or they're not executing properly."
Gibson possesses gifts many wish they had, like great body control and size to go with solid hands and the quickness that could make him a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. But honing those skills to be an adequate performer at the college level doesn't happen over night, especially since he is playing a completely different position from the one he was dominant at American Heritage High School.
"I tell him it takes time like any other thing, but the thing with him is your whole life you play quarterback and then come to college and switch to receiver," Barrett said. "Well, it's gonna be a minute so you just gotta slow your roll and I think he'll be all right."
Gibson is set to get his first full taste of live action in front of an Ohio State-sized crowd April 16 at the spring game, but nearly two more weeks of development and trust-building with both Barrett and his coaches come before. Spring is a period of growth for every player in the program, each with a different talent level.
But Gibson is special. Meyer said he doesn't see a ceiling with regard to what he can to on the field. The quarterback-turned wide receiver just needs to trust the process.
"He wants to impact the game so much and I think you see that he cares, but he's just gotta take his time," Barrett said.
