Future OSU Beaver Bibbee hopes to turn around Highlanders
By Brian Elder - KVAL Sports
"From the summer that was our team goal, to start a new tradition at North Eugene, and to get the program going and to get it to the level we know it should be and can be," said Bibbee. At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds Bibbee certainly has the look of an all-conference linebacker. What he doesn't look like is a long distance runner, but that still didn't stop him from going out for cross country his freshman year at North. "I don't know what I was really thinking," Bibbee recalls. "I just went out for cross country, and then coach and everyone just got on me and said 'oh you need to be out for football.' And I definitely missed it and that's why I came back out my sophomore year." Count OSU head football coach Mike Riley as someone who is glad that Bibbee didn't take long to transistion back to the gridiron. Bibbee has committed to play linebacker for Oregon State next fall, and when the moment came that he had a scholarship to play at a Pac-10 school, the reality of it all was a little hard to grasp for Bibbee. "I was more speechless than anything," said Bibbee. "I didn't think it was real. It didn't really hit me until like I sat down with the rest of the guys and just though about 'I have a full ride scholarship to a D-1 school, you know, everyone's dream." "I'm very excited for him," said Johannsen. "And what a great opportunity for him. He's worked hard and he definitely deserves it." But before he packs his bags for Corvallis, Bibbee hopes to help the highlanders continue the process of changing the culture of their program. "You know we're not here just to, you know the typical North Eugene, you know people think we're just gonna lay down and it's an easy game," said Bibbee. "We want to, you know, fight for every game."
"He is very firey on the field. And when we see him running people over it gets the guys fired up and gets them excited to play, and it really is a big lift to our team," said North Eugene head coach Eric Johannsen. And that list of players getting run over by Highlander senior Michael Bibbee seems to get longer by the day. Bibbee is a bruising running back and linebacker for North, and as he continues to leave defenders in his wake, teams from around the midwestern league are suddenly taking notice of the highlanders. |
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