11/23/2022 football Edit

Big Man Big Heart: Dillan Gibbons leaves big on, off-field legacy at FSU

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

Shannon Gibbons has always known his son Dillan had a desire to help others.

He remembers back in elementary school when Dillan wanted to buy a medical kit to keep in his classroom because he wanted to be able to help any of his classmates who got hurt.

So Shannon isn’t surprised by what Dillan has done during his two-year playing career with the Florida State football team.

Dillan Gibbons, one of the players who will be honored on Senior Day before FSU hosts UF Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ABC, has played a big role in FSU’s offensive line turnaround. Friday’s game will be the St. Petersburg, Fla. native’s 23rd game starting at left guard for the Seminoles since transferring from Notre Dame.

Gibbons is a two-time ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week, was an All-ACC honorable mention last season and will be in consideration for conference honors again this season.

He’s made a similarly impactful off-field mark during his time at FSU. In about 15 months’ time, Gibbons has raised more than $450,000 for a number of charitable causes he ran through his Big Man Big Heart non-profit organization.

“It will be forever. This university has made a great impact on my life and my family and everybody around me,” Gibbons said this week. “We’ve done some incredible things, whether it be running my non-profit, we’ve raised about $450,000, which is unique. Directly on the football field, competing at a very high level, helping build an offensive line and playing some really good football. At the end of the day, this university has done a lot for me and I hope when I wear that garnet and gold, I make everyone proud come this weekend and throughout my time with Florida State football.”

Gibbons was a three-star prospect in the 2017 recruiting class when he elected to leave Florida and enroll at Notre Dame, a football program with a stellar reputation for building offensive linemen. He appeared in 29 games with one start over four seasons with the Irish, but elected to enter the portal after the COVID 2020 season with two years of eligibility left.

“Getting his degree, filling his quasi-contract with Notre Dame, he knew that he wanted to get his MBA. The only school in Florida that he would even consider playing for was FSU. He always loved Florida State as a kid,” Shannon Gibbons told the Osceola. “We did not have big plans like this, everything that worked out for him. Once he entered the portal and we talked to Mike (Norvell) and Alex (Atkins), there were no promises. Just gave him an opportunity to find his way … He took that and he took it to heart.”

Even though Dillan didn’t arrive until the summer before his senior season, he locked down the left guard spot pretty much immediately. While he could have arrived solely focused on himself and trying to boost his draft stock, he impressed his teammates with how he ingratiated himself immediately into the position group.

“Dillan Gibbons, he means a lot to me. He came here and he could have been selfish and just worried about himself, but he was trying to grow the unit,” FSU left tackle Robert Scott said. “The fist bump that we do after every play, that came from him. He chooses what time we need to meet together, he tells us what time we need to be in the building. I appreciate him because a lot of people wouldn't have done that stuff at times, but the way he does it and the way he moves out here, I have nothing but respect for him."

That fist bump is something Gibbons brought from Notre Dame. Between each play, the offensive linemen bump fists to signify the end of one play and turning to the next one.

“We kind of took it and made it our own, the reasons why we wanted to do it and the guys bought into it,” FSU offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins said. “They don’t buy into that unless they buy into the person who’s bringing it. If they didn’t believe in him, they wouldn’t believe in what he’s saying. By him establishing those relationships before he just tried to institute those things, it helped it out a lot.”

Gibbons arrived at FSU ahead of the 2021 season walking into an offensive line room that still hadn’t shook its bad reputation despite some promising signs in Atkins’ first season with the unit. After injuries prevented a significant step forward in 2021, that step has come in Gibbons’ second and final season with the Seminoles.

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Entering this week’s regular season finale, FSU already has its most wins since 2016. The offense is averaging 6.87 yards per play, 10th-most nationally out of 131 FBS teams, and the FSU offensive line, which allowed three or more sacks per game in each of the previous four seasons, has allowed just 16 sacks in 11 games. That 1.46 sacks allowed per game mark is tied for 36th nationally and the fewest in the ACC.

“He’s been a rock for us. He came into a situation that wasn’t ideal. He came in and helped us with a lot of off-the-field cultural pieces. You see what he’s done with his community service,” Atkins said of Gibbons. “Just an all-around mentality and type of player that you want in your room. He was able to mentor those young guys. It’s been awesome having him.”

In a testament to how far Gibbons has come, he was chosen to break the rock as a representative for the offensive line after FSU ran for 200 yards for the sixth straight game in last week’s win at Syracuse.

He slammed the sledgehammer home and then passed it to Atkins so he could do the same.

“I wanted to give that hammer straight to Coach Atkins because he deserves it. He’s an amazing individual that didn't offer me the world when I was in the recruiting process in the portal, he offered me an opportunity. An opportunity to come here to Florida State to make a radical impact on the field and in my social life, hopefully with Big Man, Big Heart and those things in mind,” Gibbons said. “He’s done an incredible job with this group and an incredible job with me. I haven’t lost a bit of trust for him along the whole way. I can’t thank him enough for everything he has done for me and this offensive line unit.”

Added Shannon Gibbons, “Alex Atkins has been a blessing for him. I can’t emphasize that enough. All those kids in that room, I don’t know if they realize how lucky they have it. They have an o-line coach who’s an X's and O's guy who was tapped to be an OC. There aren’t too many of those guys in the country. It’s special. Dillan, he learned how to play ball at a really high level. He and Alex, they’re like two peas in a pod. They love talking ball.”

The timing of Dillan’s arrival at FSU was ideal for the Seminoles’ offensive line. It may have been even better for his desire to help create charitable causes. Until the NCAA’s name, image and likeness legislation went into effect on July 1, 2021, Gibbons couldn’t have launched a non-profit organization.

On the very day NIL began, he announced his first charitable cause, the Bring Timothy to Tally campaign. He met Timothy Donovan, who is wheelchair-bound due to a condition he was born with called VACTERL and also suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, in 2017 when Donovan’s family was at a Notre Dame game and Gibbons was a freshman on the football team.

The two struck up a friendship that carried over throughout his time in South Bend. When Gibbons transferred to FSU and discovered his first game would be against Notre Dame, he launched the campaign to raise money so that the Donovan family could travel to FSU to attend the game.

FSU offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons poses with friend Timothy Donovan after raising money to help get him to Tallahassee for the 2021 FSU-Notre Dame game. (Shannon Gibbons)

Within 24 hours, the campaign has surpassed its original $30,000 goal. It wound up at over $89,000, allowing a great trip to Tallahassee and inspiring Gibbons to start Big Man Big Heart, Inc. (http://www.bigmanbigheart.com)

In the wake of this fundraiser, Gibbons became GoFundMe’s first collegiate athlete ambassador. He also made Timothy Donovan a Big Man Big Heart ambassador. With the leftover money from last year’s campaign, Timothy and the Donovan family have traveled to a number of FSU road games this season, donating copies of his favorite book, "Rumple Buttercup," to nine children’s hospitals.

There are also a number of college football players who have become BMBH ambassadors. FSU quarterback Jordan Travis helped coordinate an event through the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend last December to give children and their families Walmart gift cards to do holiday shopping.

Former FSU offensive lineman Brady Scott raised over $27,000 to help the Ihde family and their 14-year-old daughter, Liana Joy, who tragically passed away due to acute myeloid leukemia last December.

Additionally, UCF long-snapper Tyler Paul, USF offensive lineman Brad Cecil, Vanderbilt linebacker Anfernee Orji, Duke offensive lineman Ja’Mion Franklin and Florida teammates/brothers Jordan and Ethan Pouncey have become ambassadors for various causes.

Most recently, Gibbons, Travis and FSU walk-on defensive tackle Malakai Menzer raised over $29,000 for Hurricane Ian relief in Southwest Florida, distributing funds to people who lost their homes.

“When you put good into the world, you beget good out of it," Shannon Gibbons said.

In all, Dillan has raised over $450,000 in about 17 months’ time for his various charitable causes through his organization. He was named a member of the Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion team, is a member of this year’s Allstate AFCA Good Works team and is one of 12 semifinalists for this year’s Wuerrfel Trophy, college football’s premier award for community service.

“Looking back at everything that has transpired over the last two years, none of this would be possible without Florida State being in the mix. It wouldn’t have been possible without transitioning down here from up north,” Gibbons said. “It’s been incredible to see the Florida State fans embrace from the state of Florida, from St. Pete. I can’t thank everyone enough that’s been a part of it, to you guys, for sharing everything we’ve put out there, and everyone out there for contributing to the Go Fund Mes. I had great success, but again, I wouldn’t have had the same success going anywhere else in the country.”

Gibbons admitted it feels weird that his time with the Seminoles is already nearing an end. After his final home game this week, he’ll have one more opportunity to play for the Seminoles in their bowl game before embarking on a hopeful professional career in the NFL.

For now, though, he’s living in the moment.

“It doesn’t feel like an end of a period of my career. It feels like a beginning. A great opportunity to go out there and have some fun playing football with a group of guys,” Gibbons said. “We don’t have many opportunities left. I am going to take advantage of everyone we have and give this team my absolute all as I head hopefully to the NFL after this season.”