RECRUITING: Surprise phone call helps Gorman OT Gibson commit to California

Though he wanted to play college football for California all along, Bishop Gorman junior offensive tackle Geoffrey Gibson was ready to give an oral commitment to Arizona or Notre Dame this week.

To his knowledge, Gibson had yet to receive an offer from Cal and was set to bring the recruiting process to an end.

A phone call Monday to Cal offensive line coach Steve Marshall changed all that.

“I thought (the Bears) weren’t going to offer me,” Gibson said. “I called Coach Marshall and said, ‘Are you guys going to offer?’ He said, ‘We offered you March 3.’ ”

It turned out Cal had sent Gibson’s written scholarship offer to an old address.

“That was one of the best phone calls I ever made,” Gibson said.

After learning of the mishap, Gibson was ready to commit to Cal and announced his decision Thursday night. He picked Cal over Arizona, Notre Dame and Arizona State.

Gibson made an unofficial visit to Cal last summer.

“I love the campus, love the weather,” he said. “I just like the atmosphere out there. Their football team is doing great.

“Everything just seemed to fit — academics, playing time, good weather and location.”

The 6-foot-4-inch, 315-pound Gibson said Cal envisions him as an offensive tackle, which is where he played last season at Gorman.

Gibson anchored an offensive line on a team that finished 12-2 overall and 7-0 in the Southwest League.

Scout.com had projected Gibson as a guard, where it ranked him with three stars and No. 17 nationally in the class of 2010. Rivals.com ranked him the No. 12 overall senior-to-be in Nevada.

Gibson said “it just depends on the scheme” whether he is stronger in pass protection or run blocking.

He said he’ll likely get to demonstrate more pass-blocking skills in new Gorman coach Tony Sanchez’s spread offense than in last year’s zone-blocking scheme.

Gibson is the fourth Gaels junior to commit to a Pac-10 Conference school, joining linebacker Evan Palelei (Stanford), defensive end Alex Turner (Stanford) and tight end Xavier Grimble (Southern California).

He looks forward to lining up across from Palelei and Turner in the annual Big Game rivalry.

“It’s going to be all business when we’re on the field,” Gibson said. “Off the field, we’re still going to be best friends.”