Multi Sport Athletes In College

While 99.99% most of us have never heard of.While 90% aren't on/playing for the biggest/best known colleges or universities 2 sport student athletes are more common than most really think.

I was just wondering how they would do it?

I think Frank Thomas played Football & Baseball in College.

Jeff Samardzija played football and baseball at Notre Dame.

Bob Golic and Mike Fanning were both Notre Dame wrestlers in addition to football players

 

Plus distance runners though not exactly multi-sports athletes are multi-seasons ones. they run cross country in the fall, then run both indoor and outdoor seasons.  Must be very tough to be a D1 scholarship distance runner. 

Chris Young, Princeton, baseball and basketball.

Ryno "the big hurt" went to Auburn on a football scholarship.After soph. year football coach suggested to stick with baseball only and would honor scholarship.

If I had to choose one I would choose football for one reason. The atmosphere and the fans are out of this world at all D1 FBS schools.

Son is a HS sophomore and getting interest and invites for baseball and basketball.  Baseball is much more active though due to, I believe, the fact that baseball recruiting timeline begins earlier than basketball.  Baseball recruiters believe they can see into the future ("projectable" is their word) more than hoops.  Basketball recruiters want to see the skills in real time. They hesitate to make the projection leaps that baseball does.  Although in hoops there are those 9th grade commits they are not as common as in baseball, IMO.  Boy wants to play baseball and basketball "for as long as possible."  That's what he is telling coaches.  Some raise an eyebrow, some are very supportive. 

He has a long and lean build, suitable for RHP-PO, and Forward on the hardcourt.  It gets awkward in regards to the scholarship $ from the school.  For both hoops and football, the scholarship would have to come from football or basketball.  You'd have to "walk-on" for baseball.  I don't believe NCAA allows programs to split scholarships between programs?

Can anyone speak on that?  CAN TWO DIFFERENT ATHLETIC PROGRAMS SPLIT A KID'S SCHOLARSHIP?  Say basketball coughs up 25% and baseball 25%?  I think not.  I did have one Assistant Coach suggest it could happen.  I didn't question him on it, yet.

Again, most likely scenarios are that you get scholarship for football then walk-on baseball in spring, or get scholarship for hoops and walk on in March, a month into the baseball season. 

In my son's case he has had feedback from various coaches regarding hoops/baseball: Ivies, High and Mid-Major D-1s.  Their early responses are all over the place.

I tell my son, keep playing both as long as possible.  The real trick, long before college, is playing the necessary exposure circuits for both sports.  AAU summer hoops is where basketball players are recruited.  And summer baseball showcases are where baseball players are recruited.  And summer 7 on 7 play, combines, and football camps are where football players are recruited.

To me, GETTING EXPOSURE FOR TWO SPORTS IS THE REAL TOUGH NUT TO CRACK.  You crack that, and the rest will be gravy.  The key then is to find two college coaches who WANT you to play two sports.  Who will SUPPORT your desire to play two sports. And two coaches who believe they can share an athlete.

Get a scholarship for football or hoops, then be a walk-on for the baseball team.  PITCHERS ESPECIALLY.  If you're good, it's like Christmas in March for the baseball coach. 

Again, it helps if you are a PO.     Position Players?  You better be REALLY good with the bat or glove!

I want to emphasize one point I made above, and that is the REAL CHALLENGE IS GETTING THE RECRUITMENT EXPOSURE FOR TWO SPORTS.  We all know, that all sports now, due to AAU and travel/showcase, are 365 days per year.  Baseball, Basketball, even Football, all go 365 days. 

You better be a S-T-U-D in both sports (Jameis Winston or Pat Connaughton) to be able to get away with devoting only 182.5 days to one sport, and 182.5 to the other, when 99% of your competition for D-1 roster spots in a respective sport are devoting 365 days per year.  Capiche'?

This summer will be the first summer my son will actually be doing AAU basketball AND showcase baseball simultaneously.  He wants to do it.  Not sure how it will go?  I will try to post some reflective comments in the fall as long as my wife hasn't divorced me and taken the house, my dog, and my laptop!

 

NCAA has rules to prevent the revenue sports from stockpiling extra talent on the rosters of non-revenue sports.

 

If an athlete plays football and anything else, even if he doesn't receive athletic aid, he counts against the football headcount limit.

 

If he plays basketball and baseball, he counts against the basketball headcount limit if he receives athletic money in either sport.  

 

As a practical matter, the rules I mentioned in the previous post mean that a player who wants to play basketball and baseball has to be significantly better than anyone competing for the last scholarship slot in basketball for the coach to be willing to dedicate a "counter" slot to someone he can't control during the baseball season.  

 

And that's before considering the significant seasonal overlap between the two sports.

 

That's one reason why the two-sport athletes who play either football or basketball plus baseball are usually studs.  They have to be in order for both coaches to give them the opportunity.

Someone mentioned Chris Young from Princeton. The Ivies definitely have kids who play two sports. For a recent example, see http://now.dartmouth.edu/2014/...ith-bo-patterson-15/

 

Wide receiver in football, centerfielder in baseball.

Are football scholarships normally full rides and guaranteed for 4 years?  If so that would be an advantage to me.  

 

I would hate for my son to have to worry about his scholarship year to year.  

Lionbaseball, Football and basketball scholarships I know are always full rides but i'm not sure it being guaranteed for four years but most likely yes.