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In recent light of watching the college football playoff and seeing Jameis Winston looking forward to playing baseball in the spring for Florida State. There has been some multi sport athletes in college (Russell Wilson, played baseball and football for NC State before transferring to Wisconsin, Jameis Winston plays football and baseball and does start on the baseball team,Bo Jackson in the pros, Sammy Bugh played Football and Baseball at TCU, Sheldon Brown played football and baseball at South Carolina.) My question is how would they handle Baseball, Football, and athletics and still manage to play on both teams like Jameis Winston. The number of multi sport athletes in college is low but not hard to find anymore.

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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!
Last edited by #1 Assistant Coach
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!
Last edited by #1 Assistant Coach
Originally Posted by #1 Assistant Coach:
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!

 

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.

Originally Posted by Baseball33:
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.

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.  

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