College basketball players who have succeeded in the NFL aren’t entirely rare, but they aren’t that common either.
Successful examples include Jimmy Graham, Julius Peppers, Antonio Gates, Martellus Bennett and Tony Gonzalez, to name a few. Most of those who have crossed over are tight ends, and the Cowboys are hoping they’ve found another one of those potential gems in Baylor’s Rico Gathers.
Welcome to Dallas @kinggatz2 from @BaylorAthletics 🏀🏈💁 #CowboysDraft pic.twitter.com/saKIsWmaMT
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) April 30, 2016
Gathers is a mountain of a man a 6’8”, 275 pounds, so he certainly has NFL size. But, he hasn’t played organized football in nine years, unlike most of the examples from above who played both sports at a high level in college. Gathers averaged 12 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season with the Bears, and he believes he can be the next college basketball star to succeed in the NFL.
“During my free time, I work on my routes all the time,” he told ESPN in March. “I have my own football, my own cleats, I run 40’s all the time. I think I’m ready.”
Now, he has his chance to prove it in Dallas.
