The football regular season is over for Georgia and the coaches are busy hitting the recruiting trail and preparing the team for an upcoming bowl game that still has not been announced. Basketball is getting into the meat of its nonconference schedule. As the transition from football to basketball season continues, I recently ran across a former Bulldog who is making that same transition himself.
Fred Gibson, yes that Fred Gibson, is currently coming off the bench as a guard for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the NBA Developmental League. Through the first two games of the season, he averaged 14.5 points, while shooting 50 percent from both the field and 3-point line. The former Georgia wide receiver was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2005, but was released before the start of the season. For the last four years he has gotten looks from several other NFL teams as a training camp and practice squad player. A friend of Gibson’s, William Hall, contacted Jim Harrick Sr. about the football player’s interest in resuming his basketball career.
Gibson played two years for Harrick’s basketball team, while at Georgia, before Harrick was forced to leave because of an NCAA investigation. Gibson had no intentions of playing basketball again and did not ask Hall for help. But, when Harrick called, Gibson agreed to give it a shot. After not playing any type of basketball for four years, he shined at the Developmental League prospect camp in which Harrick got him a spot and was drafted in the 10th round by the Thunderbirds. Still a long shot, he went to Albuquerque’s training camp and impressed once more, earning a spot on the team. I spoke with Gibson this past Wednesday.
Butler: I just came across your name in a box score the other day. Does anyone know what you have been up to? Does anyone know you are playing professional basketball?
Gibson: Nobody knows. I’ve been like on the hush hush with it. Coach Harrick got me the opportunity to play in the D-League and it’s been going good for me.
Why did you stop playing basketball in college? …
It wasn’t my choice. I would have played basketball for Coach [Dennis] Felton. I don’t think the [football] coaching staff thought it was a good idea because of all of the stuff that was going on with the basketball team. They didn’t want me to get tied up in anything.
You played AAU ball for the Georgia Stars with guys like current NBA players Kwame Brown and Josh Powell. Who were some of the players you played against?
I played against players like Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and DaJuan Wagner. I remember guarding J.J. Redick one time, it was my first time seeing J.J. Redick and playing against him, he was coming off the bench. I was up in his face because they told me he could shoot, but I really didn’t know [him] at the time because we were all still in high school.
Talk about the road you had to travel to get this point.
Everything wasn’t always good. Coming from college, being one of the premier players in college football to going to the NFL and getting drafted in the fourth round to getting cut to going to Miami for two years and never getting the opportunity to play and going to Atlanta and they release me for missing a meeting, I’ve had a tough road. The grass hasn’t always been green.
Do you have any regrets about football?
One thing I wish I would have done is focus on lifting weights and getting bigger and stronger. That’s the only thing I wish I would have done.
Did you get a chance to see Georgia receivers A.J. Green and Mohamed Massaquoi this year?
I had a chance to stop by practice one day. I looked at this little young kid (Green) and he reminded me of myself. It was just so funny, because I haven’t seen anyone since I left that has come and stood out like he did as a freshman. Also, looking at Massaquoi and watching him on TV, he reminds of Reggie Brown in his playmaking abilities and how good he is. It brought back memories of when me and Reggie Brown played for Georgia.
Where would you be now if you were strictly a basketball player in college?
I always thought about that. If you call and ask Coach Harrick, Coach Harrick will probably tell you I’d be in the NBA. I would probably be overseas playing basketball or I probably would have ended up in the NBA. Who knows?
How are you looking at this opportunity?
I come into this thing with a free mind. I’m doing something I really love, playing basketball. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Not too many people have the opportunity to be in my shoes. I played professional football for four years, not knowing I would be able to play basketball ever again, [and know] I’m playing on another high level in a professional sport. Not too many people get that opportunity. One day if I make it to the NBA, I can be on “Beyond the Glory.” I got a story to tell.
Butler can be reached at jbutler@scoreatl.com.
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