OSU's Gibson stays, quarterbacks pay

COLUMBUS — Two years ago, Ohio State defensive end Thaddeus Gibson was dissatisfied with his lack of playing time and thinking about transferring.

But coach Jim Tressel says he was confident Gibson, now one of OSU’s defensive standouts, was a long way from leaving.

One hundred fifty-three miles, to be exact.

“He didn’t have a car. It’s a long walk to Euclid,” Tressel said at his weekly press conference earlier this week.

Gibson, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound junior from Euclid High School, leads Ohio State with four sacks after being the team leader with five last season.

He admits he was thinking about walking away from Ohio State, if not necessarily considering walking the median of I-71 home, after spending his first year at OSU as a redshirt and playing mostly on special teams his second year.

Gibson was All-Ohio twice at Euclid, played in the Big 33 Game and had 27 sacks his final two seasons in high school.

Like most recruits, he expected to make an impact right away in college.

“Being young and anxious to play, coming from a high school where you were the all-star guy, coming here and not having the opportunity was hard for me,” he said.

“I look back and think, ‘Did I really do that sort of stuff?’ Looking back at it, I came so far.”

Gibson talked to older players, like Curtis Terry and Doug Worthington, and former Buckeyes quarterback Troy Smith, who had to wait their turns to play.

They counseled patience and Gibson stayed. “We tease Thad all the time about how he was sitting on the stairs saying, ‘I’m out of here,’ and a couple of the older guys put their arm around him and said, ‘Yeah, I was on the same stairs and you’ll be fine,’ ” Tressel said.

Gibson got three sacks in a 38-7 win over Minnesota last week after having only one in the first seven games. With OSU favored by 40 points over New Mexico State on Saturday, he could add to his total.

While his college career — and possibly a future in professional football — has been built on tormenting quarterbacks, he started out wanting to play that position.

“In high school, I always wanted to be a quarterback. Growing up, I always wanted to be a quarterback. My freshman year of high school I was a quarterback but couldn’t beat out the guy (who started),” he said.

He started the last two games of his freshman year at defensive end and found a new home.

“Patience is a great thing for anyone to learn, whatever they’re involved in,” Tressel said about Gibson.