Former South Dakota State QB J’Bore Gibbs Transfers To Idaho

Idaho enters the first season of the Jason Eck era and expectations are high in Moscow, ID for what the future holds for the Vandals. The Vandals have landed multiple impact transfers this offseason from across the FBS and FCS levels. Idaho went to Brookings, SD to hire Eck and the Vandals landed another impactful addition from Brookings in former South Dakota State quarterback J’Bore Gibbs. 

Gibbs was a standout quarterback at Phillips High School in Chicago and helped lead Phillips to multiple Illinois State Championships over his high school career. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback totaled over 2,000 yards passing and 24 passing touchdowns in his senior season, while also rushing for over 600 yards and 7 rushing touchdowns. He also was a two-time 1st Team All-State selection and committed to South Dakota State over Eastern Michigan. 

After redshirting his first season for the Jackrabbits; Gibbs earned a starting role in 2019 before suffering a season-ending injury against North Dakota State. He suffered another season-ending injury early in the 2020-21 season after only two games. Over his two seasons for the Jackrabbits; Gibbs totaled 1,071 passing yards, 10 passing touchdowns, and 4 rushing touchdowns. He was selected to the 2019 MVFC All-Newcomer Team and won the MVFC Player of the Week award for his performance against Youngstown State. 

Eck spoke about the addition of Gibbs yesterday  and offered his thoughts on what Gibbs could bring to the Vandals offense:

“Coach (Luke) Schleusner and I have a lot of familiarity with him, he was our starting quarterback to start the year in 2019 at South Dakota State,” Eck said. “He played very well in the narrow loss to Minnesota in a real tough environment for someone’s first college start. He also played very well at Youngstown State and Indiana State but unfortunately tore his ACL against North Dakota State. He tore his other ACL the next year and COVID didn’t help his rehab. He’s a guy who’s battled adversity in his football career and just growing up in inner-city Chicago so he knows how to handle a tough situation.”

The Vandals quarterback battle this offseason will be an important piece to competing in the loaded Big Sky Conference. The Vandals lost Mike Beaudry this offseason, but Gevani McCoy and C.J. Jordan both return after seeing action in 7 total games last season. Gibbs will be fully healthy going into this fall and could be a major piece in the rebuild for head coach Jason Eck. 

Idaho will open the 2022 season against Washington State in Pullman, WA on September 3rd.