TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Dillan Gibbons had no idea that, on top of taking in a game at one of college football's most iconic stadiums, he would be making a lifelong friend when he attended a chilly Notre Dame game vs. the Syracuse Orange on November 2008.
"We both made the trip to South Bend, Indiana on a cold November day in 2008 to watch our very first college football game: Syracuse vs. Notre Dame," he writes on a GoFundMe for Timothy Donovan. "That game, referred to as the 'snowball game,' where the Notre Dame student section pummeled its players with snowballs during the first quarter, got Tim and I both hooked on college football. 9 years later, Timothy and I met for the first time as I exited Notre Dame Stadium after my first game for the Irish."
Gibbons, a Saint Petersburg native, is now playing for Florida State after transferring this summer from the Fighting Irish. The state of Florida was one of several states to enact a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) law allowing college athletes to profit off their personas.
While most have opted for t-shirt and merchandise deals or sponsorships, Gibbons decided to try and raise money to help offset costs to bring Timothy to Tallahassee for the Seminoles season opener against -- who else? -- Notre Dame.
Right now, the GoFundMe has $49,325 raised of $75,000 goal.
"I started it, I believe, on a Thursday or Wednesday [in July]," he said at a recent media availability. "It started getting some slow momentum. The FSU fan base and media sources all picked it up. It wasn’t until the weekend when Notre Dame picked it up and started running with it, and I was actually driving back home which is something I haven’t done in my four years given that I’ve been up in South Bend for a while...I was in the car when it started getting more and more momentum. I actually had to pull over because I was so overwhelmed, I couldn’t even think or drive. I never had an experience like that in my whole life."
It's something that still, Gibbons can't comprehend.
"I’m completely overwhelmed, my family is overwhelmed. The Donovan family can’t even see straight. They’re very excited about it, but they still have a lot of things going on in Timothy’s life. They had to pause their efforts in the campaign."
"People from the FSU community really stepped up. People in town here," he said. "My plan for his day is a day in the sun. Make it like an official visit. Everything that we give to one of those five-star recruits rolling through the program, I’d like him to experience. At the end of the day, my goal is to try to get as far as I can up the chain at FSU, to get him out on the field at some point during the game.”
He says the rush of good fortune comes at the perfect time, with Timothy recently undergoing major surgery.
"Mrs. Donovan has been reading every single comment on Twitter, whether it’s GoFundMe, Twitter, Instagram, she’s been informing Timothy of everything. Timothy, this summer he had back surgery. This was the first surgery of his life where he was allowed to say ‘go or no go.’ He ended up having it. The day he went in to have the surgery, he had a 90-degree bend in his spine. The second he got out of the surgery center, he had a 40-degree bend in his spine. He grew 4 or 5 inches. He made that decision. But along with that surgery, right now he’s had pneumonia and is trying to recover because when you do have a bend in your spine like that, it’s very hard to breathe. It’s very easy to get pneumonia. He’s struggling with that and was actually admitted into the hospital the other day. And I’ve been in conversation with his family, he’s in good spirits but he’s definitely still struggling.”
Gibbons says he chose FSU so that the bulk of his family could see him for the first time -- and he's grateful for whatever comes next.
"For me, it’s my faith, my family, my friends, and football. Right? So faith, if I have that going on for me, I feel good about going out into the game. If my family is there, that’s another box to check. My friends, it’s the same kind of deal. If I have all that in line, I don’t have to think about a thing while playing football," Gibbons said.
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