Tyrese Gibson Set to Star in Basketball Drama Under the Boards

Tyrese Gibson is set to star in Under the Boards, a sports drama about a high school basketball team, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Gibson will play head coach Gene Allen. The film is written and directed by Scott Rosenfelt, who also produces alongside Salome Breziner.

The story is inspired by the Atlantic City High School basketball team between 2003 and 2013. In that stretch, the squad won its first New Jersey state championships. The film is built around the people behind that run, not only the players on the court.

One of those people is Jim Schafer, a math teacher with a passion for strategy. In the film he becomes the team's assistant coach. Schafer's own path helped inspire the project, and he is married to Rosenfelt's cousin. He is also an executive producer, along with Gibson and T'Shaun Barrett. Debby Schafer co-produces.

Casting is underway for the actor who will play Schafer, according to the same report. No name has been announced for that role.

Production is expected to begin in February. A start date, a shooting location and a release window have not been reported.

For a general reader, the setup is worth a second look. A film based on a real team usually starts with a real community, and this one begins with a school that won its first state titles over a decade. Sports films like this often move from a single season on the court to the adults who shaped it. Here, the coaching staff and the teacher-turned-assistant are central to the story.

For Gibson, the role marks another lead in a sports setting. For Rosenfelt, it is a return to a story he is writing and directing himself, with his cousin's husband's real-life journey as part of the material. The project now moves into casting, with February set as the target for cameras to start rolling.