Getty Images Duke's Zion Williamson celebrating a basket.
Basketball and Football are two sports that strangely go together. There are plenty of crossover athletes at earlier stages of the game. It’s nothing new. There have been plenty of star athletes who have been known to play both sports. While it is no longer as common as it used to be, it was definitely a thing.
Back in 2016, LSU tried to get themselves a hybrid athlete as well. During the time, Eric Mateos was the tight ends coach at LSU. When his boss told him to go find the best athletes in the country, Mateos figured that he could get a basketball star to come and learn the game of football at the college level. So, he called the Duke Basketball star Zion Williamson, who was in High School at the time in an attempt to get him to play tight end for the Tigers.
All thanks to YouTube, Williamson made a name for himself quite early on. His dunking highlight reel had the entire country going crazy. He’s a freak of an athlete and just about any basketball team in the nation would take him. And Williamson quickly found out that he could probably play football wherever he wanted as well if he really tried. Although LSU offered him a scholarship for football, he clearly took the basketball scholarship to Duke instead.
What if Williamson Played Football?
Zion Williamson > Uncle Rico #DukeNation
Williamson probably would’ve had a higher ceiling than most freshman athletes, if we’re honest. The sport doesn’t matter in this case. Williamson is a natural athelete that is gifted in many ways. If he genuinely wanted to learn the game of football, he could’ve. And he probably would’ve been really good at it.
Many like to call Williamson the next LeBron James when it comes to his basketball skills. Funny, because LeBron was sort of in a similar situation when he was in High School. Along with basketball, James was also a football player, who was quite the star. While he didn’t pursue football professionally, many believe that he could make it in the NFL if he tried.
Like James, Williamson isn’t going to need football to make it. He’s doing just fine at Duke. All of those YouTube highlights from High School did not burn out. He took his game to the next level, and the dunks get crazier every single time he throws one down for the camera. Just this time, he’s on a much bigger stage.