Erik Gibson plays on 2 time defending state champion Detroit Martin Luther King(MLK)..They would be in the Michigan division of the 2nd largest class of schools based on size..The team has talent and they are really strong on defense. Erik played split end and corner in this game against Toledo Central Catholic..That was Toledo CC's first home game and I got to see 2 Toledo CC grads at the game in DE James Hudson, who is redshirting at Michigan and RB Michael Warren, whom the Gophers looked at but is now at University of Cincinnati. Toledo CC won the game 21-13 in a 4th qtr thriller.
Erik passes the "eye test" for a D1 receiver, which is what he is being recruited at Minnesota... He is all of 6-3 and about 200 pounds with long arms and big hands.. He has the body to put on weight..He wears #6 if you go see them play. Detroit MLK is strong enough in their front 7 on defense that they just sent Erik Gibson to neutralize the Toledo CC split end, which he did well for 3 quarters.. The game was 0-0 at half so both teams played good defense though there were times that both teams popped off a 10-15 yard play...
Gibson did not do a thing either on offense or defense in the first quarter, except mirror the Toledo CC split end on defense where there was no possibility of a throw to the receiver he was mirroring. Offensively, I was disappointed that MLK split him out wide where he just ran fades and fly routes, each play, regardless if it was a run or pass. MLK had some o-line problems with Toledo CCs interior defense so I thought MLK would tighten up the formation to get Gibson the ball with a shorter pass..MLK has other playmakers and ran a lot of 3 or even 4 receiver sets with 1 RB. . What made things worse was that there was a cold wind coming from the west and the field runs east-west so it kind of wrecked havoc on the passes early in the game, anyways. Gibson saw some opportunities at the end of the first half with a few fades to the sideline.. He ended up with 2 catches by halftime and one was a nice catch.. A lot of "almosts" towards the end of the half. I DONT HAVE HIS STATS BUT HE HAD CATCHES TOWARDS THE END OF THE GAME. He saw most of his offensive opportunities in the 2nd and 4th quarter.
The one thing I look for in a player is that the kid does not need anyone to "coach his effort".. Gibson will need a lot of coaching including in the effort department as well as technique but the athleticism is there.. IMO, he is not natural in coming back to the ball to help when the QB is in trouble(another biggie with me). He did not hustle to spots on defense where the Toledo CC RB was running, which was kind of a bummer. So I could not tell you that he could put on weight and play LB, for instance. He does not run real hard consistently when the play is called for someone else on offense.. Some of that may be in frustration in how they use him, in fairness... When the play did get called for him, he has good acceleration and straight line speed.. The MLK QB did not get him the ball where he could make a lot of plays. None of the MLK running plays were long enough to see how he blocks at the receiver spot as he would just be a decoy running patterns. You could tell with better coaching that he had the athleticism to be a stud. He catches the ball well with his hands and does not show "alligator arms" when he is about to get hit as he catches the ball.
In my opinion, Gibson may be voted all state or whatever but I think his 3 star rating is more based on potential than production, from what I saw... I would think he would be a perfect candidate to redshirt his first year in college and he will be one that I think Matt Simon and PJ Fleck will have to challenge a bit to get the best out of him on the field.
Erik passes the "eye test" for a D1 receiver, which is what he is being recruited at Minnesota... He is all of 6-3 and about 200 pounds with long arms and big hands.. He has the body to put on weight..He wears #6 if you go see them play. Detroit MLK is strong enough in their front 7 on defense that they just sent Erik Gibson to neutralize the Toledo CC split end, which he did well for 3 quarters.. The game was 0-0 at half so both teams played good defense though there were times that both teams popped off a 10-15 yard play...
Gibson did not do a thing either on offense or defense in the first quarter, except mirror the Toledo CC split end on defense where there was no possibility of a throw to the receiver he was mirroring. Offensively, I was disappointed that MLK split him out wide where he just ran fades and fly routes, each play, regardless if it was a run or pass. MLK had some o-line problems with Toledo CCs interior defense so I thought MLK would tighten up the formation to get Gibson the ball with a shorter pass..MLK has other playmakers and ran a lot of 3 or even 4 receiver sets with 1 RB. . What made things worse was that there was a cold wind coming from the west and the field runs east-west so it kind of wrecked havoc on the passes early in the game, anyways. Gibson saw some opportunities at the end of the first half with a few fades to the sideline.. He ended up with 2 catches by halftime and one was a nice catch.. A lot of "almosts" towards the end of the half. I DONT HAVE HIS STATS BUT HE HAD CATCHES TOWARDS THE END OF THE GAME. He saw most of his offensive opportunities in the 2nd and 4th quarter.
The one thing I look for in a player is that the kid does not need anyone to "coach his effort".. Gibson will need a lot of coaching including in the effort department as well as technique but the athleticism is there.. IMO, he is not natural in coming back to the ball to help when the QB is in trouble(another biggie with me). He did not hustle to spots on defense where the Toledo CC RB was running, which was kind of a bummer. So I could not tell you that he could put on weight and play LB, for instance. He does not run real hard consistently when the play is called for someone else on offense.. Some of that may be in frustration in how they use him, in fairness... When the play did get called for him, he has good acceleration and straight line speed.. The MLK QB did not get him the ball where he could make a lot of plays. None of the MLK running plays were long enough to see how he blocks at the receiver spot as he would just be a decoy running patterns. You could tell with better coaching that he had the athleticism to be a stud. He catches the ball well with his hands and does not show "alligator arms" when he is about to get hit as he catches the ball.
In my opinion, Gibson may be voted all state or whatever but I think his 3 star rating is more based on potential than production, from what I saw... I would think he would be a perfect candidate to redshirt his first year in college and he will be one that I think Matt Simon and PJ Fleck will have to challenge a bit to get the best out of him on the field.
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