Confession: The purpose of this longread on Tony Gibson was to address that one question we asked  in the summer, which was “What if he’s good?” It did not turn out that way, and that’s OK. It’s probably better that way.

Now, I thought he had a chance to be good because I thought he was smart and had valuable apprenticeship to his name with some good defensive coaches in his past, and I also suspected the 3-3-5 was coming back.

And let’s stop there. We didn’t know what to make of what Gibson was doing on defense in the spring. It didn’t look anything like the 3-3-5 — because they were hiding it — and it instead looked really bland and basic. With the occasional exception of playing with one down lineman or none, it seemed to merely be a simpler version of the past two seasons, and he was not promoted to replicate what happened in 2012 and 2013.

Then we got wind of the 3-3-5 and, if you’re honest, that wasn’t exciting. But the idea of Tony Gibson back at WVU wasn’t altogether thrilling to fans in January 2013.

If you don’t remember that, trust that Tony Gibson does. He won’t forget, either, because it’s just another chapter of his life as an underdog, which is what this story turned out to be, and that’s OK. It’s probably better that way.

I had fun reporting and writing this, probably because it took a turn. It’s 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 26. The story’s been up for about 15 hours. I’ve gotten an alarming amount of feedback — texts, tweets, email, a phone call — from Gibby’s family, friends and colleagues praising the guy for his story and his success. I expect that’ll continue because he’s so damn popular.

I’m on the way to Memphis, albeit a little behind schedule, but we’ll hit the ground rolling, including some outtakes from the “What f he’s good?” version that, obviously, never ran. But like I said, that’s OK. It’s probably better that way.

See you soon.