Wyoming linebacker Easton Gibbs has two years of eligibility left, but according to the former Temecula Valley High School standout, this will likely be his final season in Laramie. The 6-foot-2, 235-pound tallied a team-best 121 tackles last season. That ranked him 22nd in the nation and third in the league. He also finished with three sacks and a pass breakup. Gibbs turned that production into All-Mountain West First-Team honors.
Two weeks ago Gibbs was named the Mountain West’s preseason defensive player of the year selection, but he is taking it lightly, admitting that he was asleep when the news broke. “You know, the preseason stuff, it’s very cool to get voted and it’s a blessing, but it was like last year, I wasn’t on any of that stuff,” he told the media. “I am telling myself the same thing I’m telling myself this year, there are bigger goals.”
With two years of eligibility remaining, he’s not planning to transfer. Instead, Gibbs is in hopes of a professional football career. “You know, God forbid something happens (injury), but it’s kind of my plan. This will be it for me. It’s my fifth year, my senior year and I want to go out with the guys that I came in with. “That’s kind of where I’m sitting right now.”
Gibbs’ best outing in 2022 came in a 14-13 victory over Border War rival Colorado State. He registered a season-high 13 tackles and a sack in that win over the Rams. He entered UW lore in Week 4. Battling an illness throughout the night that saw his fever hit triple digits and his weight drop a reported “12-to-14 pounds,” Gibbs entered the Air Force game on the defense’s first possession and racked up six tackles in a 17-14 upset.
“I felt bad for Jackson Marcotte because he was in the same room as me,” Gibbs told a reporter with a smile. He was referring to the Cowboys’ former tight end. “We still don’t even know what it was, whether it was food poisoning or what, but it was a rough one.”
If this is indeed Gibbs’ final go on the high plains of Wyoming, he hopes it’s a memorable one. With nine returners on his side of the ball, it could be. And, in the era of the transfer portal, with Texas Tech up first on the schedule (Saturday, Sept 2), Gibbs was asked what made him stick around when dozens of his former teammates did not.
It was a pretty simple answer says the Temecula native, “They were the people that took a chance on me. “They’re the first ones that gave me a chance…really the only ones that gave me a chance. You know, I feel like I owe it to the state and the people that brought me here and have welcomed me as family.”
Gibbs is also brushing off the media’s sixth-place prediction for the Cowboys this fall and ultimately concluded that it’s an honor to be thought of as the conference’s best defensive player at the end of the day.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
