Stanford’s 2014 loss will turn into USF’s 2015 gain on the recruiting front.
In a press release, the Bulls announced that offensive tackle Reilly Gibbons has been added to Willie Taggart‘s football team. The school stated that the St. Petersburg, Fla., native is expected to enroll in classes on the USF campus and join the Bulls’ program in January.
“Reilly is a big, strong, athletic and very intelligent offensive lineman who fits the mold of our program and the kind of power offense we want to run perfectly,” Taggart said in a statement. “He is very bright young man and another great Bay Area talent that we are thrilled to welcome to our program. We are excited to see what he can do when he joins our program in January.”
Gibbons signed with the Cardinal in February of this year and was a part of the team at summer camp, although he didn’t participate because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. Earlier this month, head coach David Shaw stated the player was a couple of weeks away from practicing with the team.
Prior to signing with Stanford, he had originally verbally committed to play his college football at Miami.
“There’s really one huge [factor in my decision] and it has to be the education,” Gibbons said back in February ($ link) of his decision to sign with Stanford. “You’re talking about a place where [tens of thousands] of kids who have perfect GPA’s and perfect test scores are going to apply to this year or already have, I guess the deadline was December 31. And out of those, I think six percent will get in. I mean, that’s amazing to me. Absolutely amazing.”
A four-star member of Stanford’s 2014 recruiting class, Gibbons was rated as the No. 19 tackle in the country by Rivals.com and the No. 34 player at any position in the state of Florida. He will be eligible to play immediately in 2015 for the Bulls.
Gibbons attended classes at Stanford in the summer, but wasn’t enrolled for the fall term that began Sept. 22. The offensive lineman’s father cited homesickness as the trigger for his son’s decision to leave the Pac-12 school.
“We’re a really tight family and he got home sick and wanted to come back,” Shannon Gibbons told the Tampa Bay Times just prior to USF’s announcement. “USF was the perfect place for him. They are happy to have him.”
(Photo credit: USF athletics)