We’re in the thick of the college football season and months away from March Madness, but even the most casual college sports fan who has been soaking up the action on the gridiron has mostly likely heard of Duke freshman basketball player Zion Williamson by this point.
Perhaps more appropriately, just about everybody has hopefully at least seen the potential No. 1 NBA draft pick throw down a vicious dunk or two this season and thought the 6-foot-7, 285-pounder would make for a pretty decent tight end at the next level. It turns out, those thoughts are not limited in their scope as LSU reportedly offered the hoops prodigy a football scholarship back when he was in high school
“Honestly, I just thought it would be really fun and would be good exposure for LSU if we offered him for football. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be too [interested],” former Tigers tight ends coach Eric Mateos told ESPN. “Coach O said go recruit the best athletes in the country, and that’s what I tried to do.
“I thought, hell, why not, he’s probably the best damn tight end to ever live.”
Mateos, who is now the offensive line coach at Texas State, apparently extended the offer in the fall of 2016 to Williamson but did so without the knowledge of head coach Ed Orgeron.
It’s hard to find anybody in football circles who wouldn’t love to turn somebody like LeBron James into a tight end and many current or future Hall of Famers like Tony Gonzalez or Antonio Gates famously played hoops in college before making their name in the NFL.
Williamson could probably follow in all their footsteps if he wanted to but it seems like sticking to throwing down monster dunks for the Blue Devils is the better course of action at the moment.
