Torrance Gibson throws, gets taste of what could be w/ Ohio State at Friday Night Lights

Just a few months back, it seemed like it'd be a long shot at best for Ohio State to wind up landing the services of elite athlete/quarterback Torrance Gibson. The Buckeyes had the commitment of Athens, OH native Joe Burrow, a more traditional (and arguably further along) passer than Gibson. And with the Buckeyes factoring in around fifth on a list of top schools, it looked as though Tennessee and Auburn were the teams to beat for Gibson's services.

But all along, just about everyone close to his recruitment felt that if Gibson simply got up to Columbus, there stood a chance his entire process could be turned upside down. The Buckeyes staff never lost sight of this goal, and after actually getting Gibson to make the drive from South Florida up to Columbus, the Buckeyes find themselves right back in the thick of things.

"I had a great time. I met a lot of people. I've seen a lot of new faces and I just had a ball," Gibson said about a Friday Night Lights camp that saw him participating, a bit unexpectedly, and smiling from ear to ear practically the entire time.

On why he decided to partake in the camp after previously telling recruiting reporters he'd be observing from the sidelines, "Coach fired me up. He was like, 'throw that rock, son.' So I had to come out here and do what I do best."

There wasn't any one thing Gibson was trying to show off. Besides having fun with it all, he made it clear he was mostly just making sure he was doing everything he needed to do to be successful as a QB in the drills: "I was kind of going through my motions, working on my drop step, working on my release. And all the things I need to work on as a quarterback."

The great time under the lights in the Horseshoe wasn't all that Gibson will reflect memorably on. "Everything [stood out to me]. Urban Meyer? He's a hyped coach. Every time I see him, he's juiced. When he saw me, he was eating, and he stopped and started jumping around. It was crazy, man. I had a fun time here," Gibson said.

"It was more [than I thought it would be]. The campus is beautiful. It was big, too. Columbus is a great place. Awesome stadium. And they're building more space. It's going to be crazy this year. I can't wait to come back to here," he added.

While there's still a lot that can happen between now and this fall, when Gibson had previously planned to announce, he didn't exactly hide that OSU will be shooting up his personal recruiting rankings the next time they're released.

"A lot of Ohio State fans will be happy after this list I put out. I don't want to release anything, but Ohio State fans are going to be really happy."

Urban Meyer and his staff have a relatively high batting average of sealing high profile recruitments' commitments on official visits. So when can the Buckeyes expect Gibson to present them the chance to reel in the five-star?

"I need to find a game. Probably the Michigan game," he said. Gibson later came back to clarify that he was closer in his planning than he initially let on, and that the Michigan game would more likely than not be the official visit he took to Columbus.