Torrance Gibson is a Bearcat

Bearcats Blog ace recruiting analyst Stuart Gilchrist weighs in on Ohio State transfer Torrance Gibson. Be sure to follow Stu on twitter, @stewiegilchrist.

Over the past week, rumors began swirling that highly touted prospect Torrance Gibson was considering the University of Cincinnati as a destination after it appeared his short-lived career as an Ohio State Buckeye was over. It all began with a single tweet from Gibson stating that he was returning to Ohio after serving a semester suspension by Ohio State for a violation of the student code of conduct. It was reported that he would not be returning to Ohio State so the rumors begin to spread that he would be attending UC under new head coach Luke Fickell. It would make sense, as Fickell had obvious ties to Gibson through OSU.

All the rumors and speculation came to a head Thursday as Gibson announced that he was transferring to the University of Cincinnati. It appears that Gibson will get a shot to compete for the starting quarterback position, a position that he did not get a chance to play at Ohio State with the likes of J.T. Barrett, Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and Stephen Collier also on the roster. Due to that fact, Gibson was listed as a receiver on the OSU roster. If things don’t work out for him in the QB chase, he is talented enough and athletic enough to have a positional fallback.

In high school at American Heritage (the same high school that current Bearcats Tyler Cogswell and Carter Jacobs attended), Gibson excelled as a dual-threat quarterback earning a 4-star ranking,Top247 honors by 247Sports and an invite to U.S. Army All-American game. Gibson received offers from Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Notre Dame, Tennessee and several others with total of 20 offers from across the country.

From my understanding, Torrance Gibson will enroll at Cincinnati State for the winter semester and, if he receives his associates degree, will be able to join the team for the summer semester. I am sure there will be some additional NCAA hurdles that will pop up along the way, but as of now it looks like Gibson will join the team for the 2017 season with three remaining years of eligibility. He will join Hayden Moore, Ross Trail, Jake Sopko and Desmond Ridder as the scholarship quarterbacks that will battle it out for the starting spot next fall.

Gibson shines with his ability to run the ball as well as pass which matches the offensive schemes that Luke Fickell wants to install here at UC. From his highlight reel, he shows great awareness and ability to escape defenders and complete a pass downfield. He will need to work on his accuracy as all quarterbacks need to do on the collegiate level but Torrance has a special talent and I am sure that the coaching staff is excited to bring him on board. With the commitment of Jarell White and Rashaad Stewart over the past few weeks, the announcement of Gibson transferring to UC has continued to positive momentum that the University of Cincinnati has experienced with the hiring of Luke Fickell.