Is Taco Charlton going to be a two sport athlete?
While I was trying to keep myself from being bored, I stumbled across this on Rivals:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2013/michigan-29
My question to the board: Is Taco Charlton legitimately playing on the basketball team as well or is this a typo? I've read that he is a good basketball player but didn't think he would be a two sport athlete in college.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
Just football. I saw that he was listed on the bball boards, but I am pretty sure he's just football. Basketball doesn't have an extra scholarship for him.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
If he has a football one. Just like how Denard ran track.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:59 PM ^
Not only does he not need one, but if he does play two sports, his scholarship MUST count against football.
EDIT: Raoul beat me to it, with more comprehensive explanation, below.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
He won't be playing basketball, but that's not why. Could have a fball scholarship and just walk on to the bball team.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
only have to pay tuition once
February 29th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
Aboslutely not.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^
Magic 8 ball says: Not likely.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:57 PM ^
do people posting actually have any inside info? or is there an interview i missed? if you're just speculating, reasons would be great--i'm curious about this myself.
more importantly, do we know whether any suggestion about the possibility of playing basketball helped secure a commitment? if we don't know that that didn't happen, it seems like the naysayers should be a bit more circumspect unless they have inside info.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:59 PM ^
that this conversation already took place when/just after he committed. Reasonably sure that everyone is speculating and that nobody will know until he either confirms or denies the rumor.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
This is one of those times where no news means there's a 99.9% probability that something won't happen. It's incredibly rare for a BCS school to have players that contribute in both sports, so if he was going to try, we'd almost certainly have heard about it by now.
That's not to say it COULDN'T happen, but there's nothing suggesting it will.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^
Cris Carter – Played basketball and football at Ohio State University.
Dennis Dixon – Played Baseball at Oregon while ripping UM heart's out in 2007.
John Elway – Played both at Stanford.
Antonio Gates – was an all-conference player in college basketball at Eastern Michigan and Kent State.
Tony Gonzalez – Played college basketball for UC Berkeley, which reached the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in 1997
Donovan McNabb – Played basketball for Syracuse University
Terrell Owens – While at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, also ran track. Also played basketball in college
Antwaan Randle El – played basketball at Indiana University
Russell Wilson – starting quarterback University Of Wisconsin-Madison and former quarterback for the NC State Wolfpack football team and an infielder for the Wolfpack baseball team
AND THE BEST OF ALL, Matt Trannon of Michigan State played 3 sports... football, basketball, and criminal mischief (allegedly).
February 29th, 2012 at 6:07 PM ^
That's eleven total players in the last how many years? I'd say it's pretty darn rare.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:03 PM ^
now that's funny
You chose two players who only played one college sport in Henson and Gates.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:17 PM ^
February 29th, 2012 at 6:21 PM ^
add Julius Peppers, UNC football + basketball
February 29th, 2012 at 7:45 PM ^
on the same team.
Donovan McNabb played in the '96 final, didn't he? He was Syracuse's backup point guard.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:26 PM ^
How does a list like this come out on this blog and Tai Streets isn't on it?
This makes me wonder 2 things...
Did I miss it despite re-reading 12 times, or do I falsely remember him playing on the basketball team as well?
Either is possible.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:04 PM ^
February 29th, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
didn't play football in college. He might have played both at Michigan St., but Saban wouldn't let him so he transferred out--forced to choose it was going to be basketball and I don't think Izzo wanted to use a scholarship on him.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^
So, out of 8,500 players a year who play D-1 football, nine dual-sport athletes in twenty years or so isn't "incredibly rare?"
In the "old days," a lot of football players used to play a second sport. Now, though, training is extremely specialized, spring football is much more important than it was, and it is a lot harder for a part-timer to be competent in their second sport at the collegiate level. Consequently, it is, indeed, "incredibly rare" nowadays for a player to even be competent in two sports simultaneously at the major college level.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^
All-american in two sports.
Dave Winfield also comes to mind if we're looking for people that didn't just dabble in the second sport.
I'm almost positive Tai Streets played as a walk-on on the Michigan basketball team and got some playing time. I seem to remember him having a dunk in one of the games.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^
Because Taco is in the Rivals database as a basketball recruit as well as football, his commitment automatically put him on Michigan's BB recruiting page. It's a system thing with rivals.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^
That makes sense. I thought the same thing, but haven't been able to keep up on things the last week or so.
February 29th, 2012 at 9:58 PM ^
A few years ago, Martell Webb was also listed as both a b-ball and football recruit.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/basketball/recruiting/commitments/2007/michigan-29
February 29th, 2012 at 5:08 PM ^
The other famous "Charlton" was a two sport athlete:
February 29th, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
...and reminded me of the time my father handed me a bottle of Sam Adams, saying, "he was America's first two-sport athlete".
(Check a label sometime)
February 29th, 2012 at 5:12 PM ^
The way I was thinking about it was that the NCAA allows 13 basketball scholarships so I looked at the current roster and subtracted out the graduating guys in 2 years time and then added in the 3 that we're taking in 2012 and the 4 that we already had signed up for 2013. So I thought we were already there w/o Taco.
That being said, if he can play bball w/o a basketball scholarship (i.e., with a football scholarship), then I don't know. But this is how I was thinking about it.
February 29th, 2012 at 7:30 PM ^
If you play two sports in college and are on a scholarship, your scholarship counts against the allotment of scholarships for only one of the sports. If you play football and any other sport, then your scholarship has to count against the football allotment. If you play basketball and any sport other than football, then you count against basketball. If you play hockey and anything other than football or basketball, then you count against hockey. The rules are designed to prevent colleges from, for example, giving out a bunch of track scholarships to football players in order to circumvent the 85-scholarship limit in football. These are some of the relevant bylaws from the 2011-12 NCAA Manual:
15.5.10 Multi-Sport Participants.
15.5.10.1 Football. [FBS/FCS] In football, a counter who was recruited (per Bylaw 15.02.8) and/or offered financial aid to participate in football and who participates (practices or competes) in football and one or more sports (including basketball) shall be counted in football. A counter who was not recruited (per Bylaw 15.02.8) and/or offered financial aid to participate in football and who competes in football and one or more sports (including basketball) shall be counted in football. (Revised: 1/10/95 effective 8/1/95, 1/9/96 effective 8/1/96, 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11). . .15.5.10.2 Basketball. A counter who practices or competes in basketball and one or more other sports (other than football) shall be counted in basketball.15.5.10.3 Ice Hockey, Men’s. A counter who practices or competes in men’s ice hockey and one or more other sports (other than football or basketball) shall be counted in men’s ice hockey. (Adopted: 1/16/93 effective 8/1/93)
February 29th, 2012 at 11:19 PM ^
Seems like it could still be exploited by schools that are elite in niche sports. Can Hopkins put all their Lacrosse players on football scholarship? [Edit: the rule only applies to D-1 so this example doesn't work, but it doesnt change the point] Can Rice put their baseball players on basketball scholarship? Still that is an interesting solution to a problem that only the SEC could dream up.
They could absolutely do that. However, those guys would have to actually be on the bball team for it to work, and if you did that with more than one or two guys, you'd completely sacrifice your bball team for a couple extra baseball players. You'd probably lose your basketball coach because of it (and have a hard time replacing him), maybe lose some of your scholarship basketball players as well. You'd be throwing in the towel for your entire basketball program for a few extra baseball scholarships. Not likely to happen.
What would make more sense would be for a school, like a Kentucky, with a powerhouse basketball program and a not so great football team (and loose morals). They could recruit a couple extra "wide receivers" who can't see the field in football but are productive on the basketball team. Wasting a couple football scholarships on 6'6" receivers wouldn't hurt UK football that much, but having a couple extra big guys on the bball team might be the difference between the final four and a national title.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^
This team could use a backup PG.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^
Chuck Testa.
February 29th, 2012 at 6:06 PM ^
Yes.
Football and Dance:
February 29th, 2012 at 8:04 PM ^
This isn't 1905 where kids can play 3 sports and 4 positions on each team. A) There's no way Charlton would be able to balance football and basketball practice schdules, since they interlap. B) Couple that with being a full-time student, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I have to imagine the Athletic Dept won't allow it.
February 29th, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^
The AD would absolutely allow it. And the practices do overlap, but only until the bowl. If a guy wanted to do it (and was good enough), then he could pick it up.
Matt Trannon did is a few years ago at MSU. He would start with the team about when Big Ten play started and get minimal minutes for a couple weeks until he started gelling with the team.
Now, I'm not saying I think Taco will play bball, and I don't really know how good he is. But if Beilien wanted him and Hoke was on board, he could be an athletic 6'6" 270 lb center who plays 10 minutes a game banging around down low.
February 29th, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^
There have been a halfway decent amount of track athletes from the football team at UM, although track is a good deal less complicated than basketball. Guys like Denard and Braylon can get by on their considerable athletic gifts.
As a side note, Terrelle Pryor committed to playing football and basketball at Pitt during his sophomore year in high school.
But it is appropriate for your avatar.
Just looking at this picture makes me have the desire to run to the bathroom.