NC State football offensive line benefits from center Grant Gibson’s ‘extra set of eyes’

Grant Gibson sat in a chair Thursday at the Charlotte Convention Center, his left leg braced and propped up on another seat.

Gibson may be the most positive player on the N.C. State football team, as a lot of his teammates claim, but it was hard putting a positive spin on his situation during a media session for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

The Wolfpack is ending its season Friday in Charlotte, against Maryland in a bowl game. Gibson, from Charlotte, won’t be playing.

If his leg hurt, the All-ACC center did not say. But not getting to play in Charlotte? It was killing him.

“Oh, yeah,” Gibson said. “Listen, it’s been tough not to be out there with my teammates. But they really helped me through the tough time of not being out on the field.”

Gibson, a graduate and a team captain, sustained his injury against Boston College on Nov. 12, missing the last two games of the regular season as sophomore Dylan McMahon was shifted from guard to center. Without Gibson, who underwent surgery, the Pack was missing a player who had started 46 games and played exactly 3,200 snaps.

Despite the injury, Gibson was named first-team All-ACC for 2022, a reflection of the respect around the league for the 6-1, 310-pound lineman out of Mallard Creek High in Charlotte.

Actually, Gibson has been on the field with his guys. He served as an unofficial offensive line assistant coach, watching, encouraging and advising in practices.

“I try to give them an extra set of eyes,” Gibson said. “It has been different trying to coach your friends up. And they listen to me. They’ll turn around and say, ‘What you think?’ It’s been cool to do that and stay involved.”

The Pack’s O-line coach, John Garrison, left after the season to join the Ole Miss staff. Gibson has been helping Austin Davis, an offensive graduate assistant, head up the line drills during the bowl preparations.

“Gibby has been great,” offensive tackle Bryson Speas, another team captain, said Thursday. “I’ve never seen Gibby have a bad day and for us to have that energy around us has been a big deal for us.”

Until the injury, Gibson was a constant for the Wolfpack — No. 50, the man in the middle of the line. The grandson of former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, he joined the N.C. State program as a defensive tackle in 2017 after helping Mallard Creek to three state championships.

Gibson was moved to center in 2018, during the week when the NCSU-West Virginia game was canceled because of Hurricane Florence. By 2019, after the departure of All-America center Garrett Bradbury, he was starting every game and was named a team captain for the first time in 2020.

“He always has a positive attitude,” linebacker Drake Thomas said Thursday. “He attacks the day with the same mentality, every single day. He’s a bright spot.”

It hasn’t always been easy. Gibson lost his last home game at Mallard Creek. In his first game at N.C. State, in 2017, the Pack lost to South Carolina — at Bank of America Stadium.

Gibson injured his left knee in the Gator Bowl after the 2020 season, landing awkwardly after hopping up to celebrate a Wolfpack touchdown with receiver C.J. Riley. His injury against BC came in his last home game with the Pack, after an emotional pregame ceremony at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“Grant’s awesome,” NCSU coach Dave Doeren said Thursday. “He’s taken a tough situation and done something, which you would totally expect him to do, and be a servant leader for this team, in the meeting room, on the field.

“It’s too bad he won’t be playing. No one is more deserving of playing in this game than him.”