The Carolina Panthers made headlines yesterday when the team announced they have signed Colin Granger, a former Division I basketball player. The six-foot-nine center has never played football before, but played five-seasons of college basketball.
“The 6-foot-9, 245-pound big man is looking to follow in the footsteps of legendary NFL tight ends such as Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and Tony Gonzalez,” wrote the New York Post’s Camden Markel. “Gates is the only one of the three, though, who, like Granger, did not play college football, as Graham and Gonzalez played both sports in college.”
Though most of the NFL world may not know Granger, Justin Gray, his head coach for his time with the Coastal Carolina University basketball team, knows the young athlete very well.
“This isn’t surprising for me knowing Colin,” the coach said in a press conference released by the team. “He is one of the most committed athletes I’ve ever coached. I told him before he’d be successful in anything because he’s always been disciplined and attacks everything with all he has. Those are the ingredients that bring success, and he possesses those. He knows the work has just begun and we are all here to support him.”
How The Panthers Found Granger
Head coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan signed with the Panthers as a tandem in February of 2024. The duo spent two years in the same building nearly a decade prior with the Seattle Seahawks and enjoyed immense success, appearing in back-to-back Super Bowl’s together.
According to ESPN’s David Newton, the tandem took an eerily similar risk in Seattle.
“This is not the first time that Carolina coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan have been a part of an experiment with a former basketball player,” Newton wrote. “Both were in Seattle when the Seahawks signed former Western Kentucky basketball and football player George Fant (6-5, 315 pounds) to be a hybrid tackle/tight end.”
Fant, who just completed his eighth season in the NFL, is currently unsigned but is generally thought of as a high quality fringe tackle across the league. Newton reports that Fant has been working with Granger preparing him to make the transition and was actually the one who told the Panthers about him.
Granger joins a relatively full Panthers’ tight end room.
“He will compete for playing time with Tommy Tremble, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jordan Matthews, James Mitchell and Dominique Dafney,” wrote Newton.
Granger’s Time With The Chanticleers
Colin Granger made three stops over his five year collegiate basketball career which began at Ohio University. He spent two years with the Bobcats before transferring to Western Carolina where he appeared in 64 games in two seasons. His final destination was the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers where he averaged a career high 17.8 minutes per game.
The center also posted career highs in points, rebounds, and field goal percentage in his time with the Chants.
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