Ishmail Wainright may be done with basketball at Baylor, but he might not be done with sports at the collegiate level at the school.
Citing two separate sources, SicEm365.com is reporting that “Wainright is heavily considering playing tight end for the Baylor football team in the 2017 season.” “A second source familiar with the situation confirmed that Wainright ‘might’ be part of Baylor’s football program,” the website added.
Tuesday, Wainright was in attendance at BU’s football practice, albeit in street clothes.Ish Wainright checking out @BUFootball practice. What do you think, @kinggatz2, tight end? #SicEm 🏀🏈 pic.twitter.com/lygLQvFhhp
— Baylor Basketball (@BaylorMBB) April 11, 2017
First-year head football coach Matt Rhule was borderline coquettish when asked about the potential for Wainright to play for him this season, even as the potential football Bear seemingly indicated he’s going to give a sport he hasn’t played since his freshman year in high school a go.
Here’s Baylor coach Matt Rhule’s full response when he was asked specifically about Ish Wainright playing tight end on Tuesday. @Baylor247 pic.twitter.com/9apFVnDJHG
— Tony Adame (@t_adame) April 12, 2017
Former #Baylor bball star Ish Wainright tells me he does plan to play football for BU next season. He hopes to join team next week at TE
— Jessica Morrey (@JessicaMorrey) April 12, 2017
Wainright used up his college basketball eligibility following the the 2016-17 hoops season, but would have one year of football eligibility at his disposal as he didn’t take a redshirt in the other sport.
As part of the Bears basketball team that earned a trip to the Sweet Sixteen this season, Wainright, a 6-5, 235-pound forward, averaged just over five points and five rebounds a game.
Such a sport-to-sport move by Wainright would be far from unprecedented at the Waco institution.
Rico Gathers made the same move as Wainright is reportedly exploring and ended up being a sixth-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys. Additionally, Demetri Goodson made the move to BU after playing three years of basketball at Gonzaga earlier this decade and earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors as a cornerback in 2013.
