Dance-off comin', y'all. pic.twitter.com/AUslX4Hfz7

— RussellAthleticBowl (@RussellAthBowl) December 26, 2016

We ought not be surprised to see No. 1 in blue involved in an impromptu dance-off. If we’ve learned nothing else from Shelton Gibson in his third season with West Virginia it is that he likes to involve himself.

“He’s going to talk to you and he’s going to tell you, ‘I’m going to beat you this whole game, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You’d better ask for help,’” WVU cornerback Rasul Douglas said. “That’s Shelton. After the play, he’s going to let you know, ‘I just beat you. You’re lucky the ball wasn’t thrown.’ You’ve got to make sure you dominate Shelton. If you don’t, you’re going to hear it the whole game.”

But there’s much more to Gibson and his role as the most explosive player in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

Think about that for a second. WVU is playing Miami, and Miami, whether up or down or in the middle, is going to have players. The Hurricanes indeed have a few. Running back Mark Walton scored 14 touchdowns this season and had an 80-yard touchdown run against Appalachian State. Ahmmon Richards made freshman All-America teams with 46 catches for 888 yards, and he had a 77-yard touchdown catch against Virginia on a short throw and a long run away from fading defenders. Tight end David Njoku is unlike anyone the Mountaineers have seen in a long, long time, and his seven touchdowns included 76- and 58-yard scores in the final regular-season game.

But isn’t Gibson the guy? He’s 73 yards away from his first 1,000-yard season, and he’d probably be there if not for a stunning no-catch game in the finale against Baylor. He’s No. 3 nationally with 23.18 yards per catch. He’s tied for the national lead with seven catches of 50 yards or more this season, and his eight touchdowns averaged 39.3 yards. He even leads all the WVU and Miami players in kickoff return average, so he had plenty to talk about this season.

Mostly, we talk about the silly highlights, which more often than not served as the punctuation mark for the Good and the Bad. He was spectacular in so many singular incidents, and if there is a nit to pick with his game, it is that he is not more consistent. For all the big plays and big games, he had quite a few quiet occasions, as well.

That, he says, is among the things he’ll work on next season. Gibson, if you were curious, will be back for his senior season, and he’s aiming for more improvement. He believes he’ll pull it off, if only because he committed himself to cutting the drops out of his game. He counted two this year after seven last year, and there’s perfectly reasonable and comical explanation.

Gibson would like to thank two people for his improvement. The first is someone he calls Vickie. The second is Vanessa.

They are footballs, and in 2015, Gibson carried Vickie wherever he went so he’d learn to treasure a football and the value in possessing it. Mysteriously, though, Vickie disappeared, and Gibson found it odd that it happened right about the time his former teammate, running back Wendell Smallwood, left WVU for the NFL.

“He always used to ask to hold her, and now I can’t find her, and he’s doing well in the NFL. So I think he got to her,” Gibson said. “That’s fine. If she wanted to leave me for another guy, I’ll move onto someone else.”

Smallwood, who has fumbled just once in his rookie season with the Philadelphia Eagles, consistently tells Gibson he doesn’t know what happened to Vickie. Gibson’s heart is now with Vanessa, Vickie’s little sister who treats Gibson better than what he was used to before.

“She’s helped me a lot,” Gibson said. “I catch the ball a lot better now. I’m better at catching everything now. If I do drop a ball now, it’s just, like, move onto the next play. I had two drops this season. Next year, we want to have none.”