Blue 88: It’s too difficult to play two sports
Feb 24, 2011, 11:54 AM | Updated: Apr 4, 2011, 7:52 pm
Nate Robinson played football for one season at UW before focusing solely on basketball.
MyNorthwest.com staff
Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday that Austin Seferian-Jenkins, one of the nation’s top tight end recruits who signed with the Huskies earlier this month, could walk on to the UW basketball team next season.
In Thursday’s Blue 88, Brock Huard said that while the basketball team could use Seferian-Jenkins’ size especially with the departure of senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning, playing two sports is just too difficult:
“Devin Aguilar, a very accomplished basketball player coming out of Colorado who had basketball scholarship offers at other places, said ‘I’m going to do both.’ No you’re not. It’s very hard to do in this day and age. Kavario Middleton, a tight end, 6-6, 250, a 5-star recruit out of Lakes High School, said ‘I want to do both.’ No you’re not. It’s too difficult.
“Nate Robinson, the freakiest of the freak (athletes), 5-foot-8 and could jump over a Land Rover and dunk a basketball, came in and tried to do both and realized it’s very difficult to do both well. If I’m going to excel at something I’m probably going to have to pick one. So I understand saying it now … But if this team goes to a bowl game and they play into January, he’s going to miss all that practice time. I think it’s a good conversation. I think the reality of it, though, it’s very, very difficult.”
Bears defensive end Julius Peppers (North Carolina) and Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez (Cal) are two notable NFL players who also played basketball in college.
“Julius Peppers could do it and get away with it because he really didn’t have to lift and train and do everything else because has just a super-human. Tony Gonzalez, much the same (way).”
