Bill Giberson began his football career two years ago with no expectations.

“I just went out to try it,” the St. Augustine Prep senior said, “and it blossomed into something great.”

Giberson will attend Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., on an almost full football scholarship. Sacred Heart plays in the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA.

“I went to visit Sacred Heart, and it felt like the right place for me,” Giberson said. “The school wasn’t too big. Everything there fit me perfectly.”

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The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Giberson is one of the region’s top athletes. He had a problem many high school seniors would like to have. The Hammonton resident is also a standout basketball player. Giberson averaged 14 points for a Hermits team that won 21 games and the Cape-Atlantic League American Conference. He had a basketball scholarship offer from University of the Sciences, a Division II school in Philadelphia.

“I felt like I had more potential in football,” Giberson said. “I’ve probably peaked at my current level in basketball.”

Still, basketball is a sport he has played most of his life, and it was hard to leave it behind.

From now on, the only time he’ll take the court is in an intramural league with the rest of the Sacred Heart football players.

“I’ll still be shooting around,” Giberson said, “but not playing competitively will be hard.”

Giberson is the latest local player to commit to Sacred Heart, which finished 8-3 last fall.

Egg Harbor Township High School quarterback Tim Little, Southern Regional linebacker Steve Sibona and Mainland Regional defensive back Bill Edmunds have also committed to the Northeast Conference school. Giberson said he talked to Little and Edmunds before visiting Sacred Heart.

“It was everything they said and more,” he said.

Although he had never played competitive football before his junior season, Giberson quickly adapted to the sport.

“I just tried because people told me I could be good at it,” he said.

That was good advice. Giberson, a standout wide receiver and defensive end, was a Press first-team All-Star last fall. St. Augustine won a school-record 10 games.

He returned four punts for touchdowns and caught 23 passes for 484 yards and eight touchdowns.

Giberson does not yet know whether he will play offense or defense.

“They said they’re going to put 25 pounds on me and go from there,” he said. “Maybe try me at outside linebacker.”

Giberson is OK with that uncertainty. He knows first hand that an athletic future can be tough to predict.

“If you had told me two years ago that I’d be playing football in college,” he said, “I would have laughed at you.”

Hermits’ Bill Giberson finds heart in football
By Michael McGarry, Press of Atlantic City (NJ)
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/128/story/438161.html