Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/499410
BY JORDAN WELLS On Nov. 22, 2008, Notre Dame suf- fered one of its most shocking losses in program history. Syracuse marched into Notre Dame Stadium with a 2-8 record, fresh off firing its head coach Greg Robinson in the previous week, and came back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Irish 24-23 in South Bend. While it was a day to forget for many Irish fans, sophomore offensive lineman and new Notre Dame com- mitment Dillan Gibbons — then only 9 years old -— will always remem- ber that snowy game, because that's where his Notre Dame journey began. "I've always been drawn to Notre Dame, with my Irish Catholic heri- tage," Gibbons said. "Just to see the players on the field that day, the whole crowd there all for one purpose, was an amazing feeling that I just don't think you can find anywhere else." Seven years later, the now 6-5, 304-pound offensive lineman from St. Petersburg (Fla.) Northside Christian was seeing the Irish up close again April 1 with his father, Shannon, and mother, Lynn, only this time as a re- cruiting target. One of the first items on the slate was observing offensive line coach Harry Hiestand while he met with Irish linemen pre-practice that day. "It was the best coaching meeting I've ever been in," Gibbons said. "He's knowledgeable, and he knows exactly what he's talking about. It's not like he was reading it from a playbook, it's stuff he's picked up over the years. He really knows his craft." Watching practice, touring the facili- ties and campus, and spending lunch with running backs coach Autry Den- son and Hiestand were all next on the packed schedule, before Hiestand grabbed his golf cart and asked Dillan to hop on. "They had a chance to talk, just him and Coach Hiestand," said Shannon Gibbons, Dillan's father. "From what Florida Lineman Fulfills Dream By Committing To Irish Gibbons, who was a first-team 2A all-state selection during his sophomore season at St. Petersburg (Fla.) Northside Christian, is the first commitment for Notre Dame in its 2017 class. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM COMMITMENT PROFILE DILLAN GIBBONS