Austin Lyman: When did you know you were going to play college ball?
Taj Gibson: I knew I wanted to play college ball when I was 9, but it became realistic when I was about 12. I knew I was going to play college ball my sophomore year. I was being recruited a lot, receiving a lot of letters, going to a lot of camps.
AL: What was it like?
TJ: It was amazing, they treat you like a king, you’re always getting free shoes, free nike clothes, different type of gear from the sponsors.
AL: What went into your decision in looking for colleges?
TJ: I went to other schools, and I didn’t like the atmosphere. I liked the setting of being in LA, it was fun. I just liked the weather.
AL: How clean was high school recruiting for you?
TJ: It’s real dirty. I remember coaches coming up to me offering food, offering me gear. Calling me when they aren’t supposed to be calling. It’s real dirty, they fly out to see your family. They are always around calling your phone non-stop.
AL: What were you offered?
TJ: I was offered a car, I was told I didn’t have to do my own work at school at some places. It’s simple stuff.
AL: Why did you choose to turn it down?
TJ: I have morals, I was raised a different way. I know that if I work hard eventually I will be getting all those things on my own. That’s the way I looked at it, I never looked for any handouts.
AL: Why do players take it then?
TJ: You see the NBA guys, you see the NFL guys, and you see all these pro guys and it’s real tough to say no sometimes. At lot of guys come from poverty and then they get around players with money, and they start wanting those things.
AL: How dirty is USC?
TJ: I think USC is really clean compared to other schools because USC is constantly under the watch of everybody. Every reporter is always on USC’s case no matter what USC does. You never hear dirty things about UCLA, there are a lot of dirty things going on in a lot of different places that I know personally. But they are just on USC for some reason, and it makes it tough.
AL: Why don’t players get caught?
They don’t get caught because they’re smart. Schools teach you to think logicially and really use your brain. They change the way you look at certain situations. These guys are really mastering the way things go. Back in the day, my old coach told me that guys would get 40 grand just to go places. Nowadays everyone is telling, somebody wants to tell on somebody. Everyone is saying he did this and he did that, and I saw this and I saw that, instead of getting the full facts. Even for me, people say he is doing this and he doing that, and I’m here shaking my head saying why can’t I just be a regular guy, why do I have to take money. It’s hard, you always have to think who is watching, and you’re thinking is this safe, is this ok? You’re just trying to have fun, and be with your friends, and be down to earth. You have to worry about is with an agent, is he taking money for you. It’s so hectic.
AL: How dirty are sports agents?
TJ: They are real dirty, they’ll call you, call your family, try to get you in debt, they say love you, they’ll take care of you and your family. Because you have to be really open and honest with your family and tell them to understand the process. I’ve had a bunch of times where my family called and said we have this guy, offering this amount of money, what’s going on? I just tell them to stay humble, and that we don’t need that stuff right now. I’m in school, and I’m happy right now. That lifestyle will come, just be patient, we don’t need that stuff, we got each other. A lot of kids don’t have that situation and think that they need to get the money for their family.
AL: How does USC stack up against other schools in terms of attention from agents?
TJ: They get a lot of attention, just by being in the top one or two, and one of the more popular citys in America. This is a place where anyone can come up and be a superstar. One thing about LA, is a lot of agents have their main offices here, or in orange county or downtown LA.
AL: Why do some players don’t try to clean up the sport?
TJ: You never know what can happen in the future, you never know if there is one alumni from that recruiting school that you want to get a job with down the road. This situation has happened to me many times, there are many times that an agent has tried to get me, but there have been NBA players that have told me he’s not a good agent, he’s a shaky agent that doesn’t take control of his clients. After that he told me, don’t the agent that though, because you never know if the agent is going to bad mouth you.
AL: Are colleges or sports agents worse?
TJ: I think colleges have settled down, and now its more the agents pumping athletes money. But with some many people telling, people don’t want to put themselves in that situation.
AL: Do you know when people take money?
TJ: People don’t really know but they can probably guess or hint. I know a bunch of guys are coming up to me saying are you taking some money, or nice shirt or nice jeans. I think what I can get some nice clothes or nice jeans on sale? It’s small things, my teammates saw me coming with a new watch. It was a cheap watch, a fake watch, but the way I carried myself that made them think that I was taking money, or taking bribes. They wonder why I stick around and keep going to school.
You have to understand the cycle, anytime a player is taking money you always wonder why they leave early and declare so fast. You wonder why he is leaving on such short terms. Like why is he signing an agent now. Certain things like that weigh into you assumptions.
Of course you may hear a guy is taking this and that. People can say you are taking this and you are taking that, but it’s really up to you to determine whether you are going to take it, or just wait and let it come?
