[OT-ish] Cincinnati ATH Torrance Gibson (former OSU transfer) most likely to redshirt 2017

Submitted by BoFlex on

I figured it may be of interest to the board considering UC is the 2nd game of the year.

Torrance Gibson is a former 4*/5* dual-threat QB from the class of 2015 depending on which service you use. Originally committed to Ohio State where he switched to WR, and then expelled from Ohio State beginning of his redshirt freshman season (rumored to be due to plagiarism/academic infraction). Gibson has since transferred to UC in the hopes of playing immediately and a chance to compete for the starting QB position. Immediate elgibility was going to be determined by Gibson's ability to complete a Associate’s Degree by the start of Fall semester.

According to Luke Fickell, Gibson attempted to enroll at Cincinnati State to earn an Associate’s, but the plans fell through, and is instead enrolled in at UC for summer classes now. It does not look like Gibson will make the cutoff to be immediately eligible for the 2017 season.

Not that it would have matter for the end result of the UC game, but originally I thought Gibson would be an interesting "X-Factor" if he was somehow named a starter at QB or WR for the game.

NittanyFan

May 19th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^

but they won't be good in September 2017.  Tubberville left that program an absolute mess.  I unfortunately watched a lot of their games in 2016, living there.

I suppose UC will start Hayden Moore at QB this year.  He had his moments in 2016 but the guy doesn't have much feel, he takes a whole lot of sacks.  The U-M DL will likely get well acquainted with Moore.

Blueblood2991

May 19th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^

So basically he went to JUCO (Cincinnati State College) and failed to complete the number of courses required to be eligible for FBS football after being two years removed from high school.

Fickell is just being ambiguous to try to keep some heat off the kid.

war-dawg69

May 19th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^

Does it really matter. Just saves the kid some pain. We are going to crush that school. I continue to read how we lost to much to be any good this year. They think Penn state is it and Franklin ranks ahead of Harbaugh. Our defense may have some growing to do, but one thing is clear the violent impacts are going to be a plenty when playing against Michigans defense. Whether that kid plays or not is irrelevant as this game will not be close at all.

JonnyHintz

May 19th, 2017 at 2:42 PM ^

I don't think anybody ever said Michigan lost too much to be any good.

Just the general consensus is that Michigan is probably an 8-9 win team this year.

Opening the year with a prime time game against Florida is a crapshoot. Especially with a young team.

Penn State at night while they return everyone and we lost everyone is a potential loss.

Wisconsin on the road is a potential loss.

Ohio State the week after we play Wisconsin is a potential loss.

That's four very realistic losses right there. Now factor in a loss to a team we should beat that routinely seems to happen (Iowa last year).

It's a young team that has to go out and face a few extremely tough tests and some incredibly hostile situations. They may rise to the occasion or they may crumble under the pressure. Nobody thinks that the team won't be any good, just that a 8-9 win regular season is the most realistic.

BroadneckBlue21

May 20th, 2017 at 9:35 AM ^

is not very good. Eight wins is only "good." Michigan should never settle for good or even very good. Michigan should crap out 8 wins annually with any coach. Your supposition takes the mindset backwards into Carr's latter days. The standard for the team under Harbaugh should be to always aim for a perfect record and only see very good as at least 10 wins. I don't care how young the team is or how good Florida or Penn State are supposed to be, our team cannot have your mindset to define very good as "realistically we will lose to these teams." So if 8-9 is your standard, then that is not "very good."

Section 1.7

May 19th, 2017 at 12:04 PM ^

I agree; it is thoroughly on-point.

My understanding from closely perusing 11W was that while there were stray and unfounded rumors as to an academic violation leading to Gibson's expulsion, that in fact it was one of those Title IX proceedings where there were never any criminal charges. And what I found convincing in support of that hypothesis was Coach Meyer's grim, terse public expression that he disagreed with what The University did. By any account, Urban was pissed. And I'd bet he had good reason.

I am going to be sorely disappointed if Gibson can't play in September.

grumbler

May 19th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^

Once Title IX procedures are complete, it is a public matter.  If the kid got kicked out of school for Title IX violation of the student conduct code, then it should be easy to find out.  If you can't find out, then it's highly unlikely to be a Title IX case.

Section 1.7

May 19th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^

Huh?!? What is your authority for that?

It is virtually never public. And almost never made public, even by someone wrongfully accused, unless very special courtroom privileges are waived/invoked. FERPA prevents anyone from talking about it. Not coaches, not administrators and maybe not even (although this would be very debatable) the opposing parties in any administrative action. I can cite some exceptions; they are, uh, exceptional.

Blueblood2991

May 19th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^

He wasn't kicked out though. He was just suspended for a semester. 

He was involved in a relationship with a tutor. Took an explicit video. He said she gave him consent, she said no. Then she said that she had done classwork for him. Given that there was no definitive proof, and that they had been involved for awhile and wasn't a quick fling OSU didn't completely kick him out.

The whole thing was a mess. Urban was pissed. However, as fun as it is to shit on OSU academics, if this guy could barely cut it at a community college I have a feeling he would've been kicked out of OSU eventually with or without the tutor.

Section 1.7

May 20th, 2017 at 3:13 PM ^

I wasn't involved in the case, obviously, but there are a couple of mistakes here.

1.  I am reasonably certain that Gibson was expelled, not suspended.  And that he appealed and applied for reinstatement a term later, and was denied.  I think that the fact of the appeal was confirmed somehow, I forget how.  Gibson might have disclosed it himself, which he can do.

EDIT- I still think I am essentially correct about Gibson's status.  But because I like to be very careful about terminology, I want to add this.  Gibson may indeed have been "suspended," but it was an indefinite suspension.  And after the first term in which he was suspended, he applied for "reinstatement."  He may have "appealed" the original finding when it was issued.  And upon applying for reinstatement, Gibson was denied by OSU.  So again, for a student-athlete, that may as well have been expulsion; not knowing when you might ever be able to return and losing eligibility all the time.  So substitute "indefinite suspension" for expulsion, and substitute "denied application for reinstatement" instead of "denied appeal."

2.  I think it is not just miselading but flatly incorrect to suggest that "this guy could barely cut it at a community college."  As I understand it, he is enrolled and has all along been in good standing.  He just got started at Cincinnati State too late to get all of his Associate's Degree credits done.  And I may be indulging in a bit of speculation, but I think that that problem lies with the fact that he was left hanging by the administrative procedures at OSU just long enough that he had a hard time reconfiguring a collegiate academic course.  In time, that is, to get himself NCAA D-1 eligible at UC.

umfanchris

May 19th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^

I know the point of the article is that he most likely won't be playing this year against us. But I have an honest question. Since hHe already redshirted in 2015, is a player allowed to redshirt twice without medical hardship? Wouldn't he just lose a year of eligability?

Alumnus93

May 19th, 2017 at 7:43 PM ^

Gibson went to Cinci??? Further proof of my belief, against many here, that if Cinci were in the Big Ten, that it'd definitely hinder OSU.... Alot of these recruits wanna play early and OSU would lose several of them, enough to have a real effect.

Scarlatina

May 19th, 2017 at 8:48 PM ^

Well Gibson had filled out all the paperwork to go to JUCO Mississippi Gulf Coast until Fickell got hired away from OSU to UC. It was kind of a fated situation that made the perfect opportunity for Gibson to transfer to UC.

In any case, Fickell is doing fine on the recruiting trail right now without even targeting players Ohio State has offered. Really Fickell is hurting UK, Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern recruiting more.