Since the NCAA began accumulating defensive statistics in 2000, no player has ever made 200 tackles in one season. Yet that's the number Morgan State inside linebacker Greg Gibson is setting his sights on.
"To be honest, I want 200 tackles," the 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior said Friday from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference football media day in Norfolk, Va. "That's my goal. That's what I'm aiming for, and I'm not settling for anything less."
When informed that he would have to average more than 18 tackles per game in the Bears' 11-game schedule, Gibson didn't relent. "I've been putting in that type of work. I'm just waiting for it to come to fruition," he said.
No one can fault Gibson for not being ambitious. The Morgan State record for tackles in a single season is 147 set by Elvis Franks in 1976 and the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision mark is 195 established by Norfolk State's Kevin Talley in 2003.
Gibson, who made eight consecutive starts at one of two inside linebacker spots after moving from the outside position, finished last season ranked fourth in tackles with 50 and added two sacks. It was a decent campaign, but not entirely satisfying.
"I feel like I had a good season, but this year, I've got to be great," he said. "This year, I want to be a great tackler, and I want to go out with a bang and have a phenomenal year. I think last year was good, but I still have some improvement and I see a lot of things that I have worked on that I want to get better at. So last year was good, but this year is going to be better."
Gibson's presence is even more amplified with the loss of sophomore inside linebacker Mike Gaynor, who had 58 tackles in nine starts but will sit out the season to focus on academics. Interim head coach Fred Farrier is leaning on Gibson and junior Damare Whitaker (66 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks) – who is projected to move from outside to inside linebacker – to set the tone on defense.
"Our two linebackers, Greg Gibson and Damare Whitaker, are two guys who have played significant amount of snaps over the last two years," Farrier said. "So inside of that front seven, those are two guys that we're going to rely on heavily.
"Those guys will have to speak up, those guys will have to help other guys on the back end get up to speed and communicate and make sure that everybody's on the same page."