Notre Dame Commit Dillan Gibbons Named Small School All-American

Notre Dame junior offensive line commit Dillan Gibbons’ final season at St. Petersburg (Fla.) Northside Christian High School will go down in the books as one to remember.

Gibbons was named to MaxPreps’ 2015 Small Schools All-America second team on Friday. The news came just a few weeks after Gibbons announced that he was transferring from Northside Christian to Clearwater (Fla.) Central Catholic.

“It’s going to be great to just get closer back to home and to go to a Catholic school,” Gibbons said. “I’m excited.”

Irish offensive line coach Harry Hiestand was in Florida back in early December to check up on Gibbons, and the lineman said that the coach approved of the move from one school to another.

“He gave me his blessing,” Gibbons said. “I told him that Notre Dame is in my back pocket and he totally agreed with the change.”

Clearwater (Fla.) Central Catholic has made the Class 3A state finals in back-to-back seasons and is home to four-star junior athlete CJ Cotman — a potential target for the Irish next recruiting cycle.

Gibbons is one of five commits for the Irish in a 2017 recruiting class that is off to a fast start. He was in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 1 to watch four-star defensive end commit Robert Beal and four-star tight end Brock Wright workout at the Under Armour Future 50.

“Notre Dame is a school that kind of recruits for itself,” he said. “The thing about Notre Dame is that if you want to go there, you go there. Notre Dame is always looking for a certain type of kid and [the current commits] are all that. We’re all friends and get along.”

Gibbons checks in at 6-5 and said that he’s up to 315 pounds. He was named to the Tampa Tribune’s All-Tampa first-team offense and was an Associated Press Class 2A all-state selection.