What if these Big East hoop stars played football?

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, March 18, 2009  |  Comments( 1 )

College Football
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Remember when football players were brawny and basketball players were wiry?

As the latter sport becomes more and more physical (ever watch two centers wrestling with each other in the paint?), this gap is necessarily shrinking. Big East hoop stars like Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Paul Harris of Syracuse and DeJuan Blair of Pitt already look like refugees from the gridiron, and the trend is continuing.

So just for fun, let's put together a fantasy football team of Big East basketball talent. You have to cut us a little slack, though -- we know that Georgetown, Seton Hall and Marquette don't have D-1 football programs, and we have no idea who could punt or placekick for our squad.

QB: Jonny Flynn, 6 feet, 180, Syracuse; A.J. Price, 6-2, 181, Connecticut. Both of these guys quarterback their basketball teams, so why not their football teams? They would be quick and explosive in a spread offense, much like ex-West Virginia QB Pat White.

RB: Deonta Vaughan, 6-1, 195, Cincinnati; Chris Wright, Connecticut, 6-1, 201; Scottie Reynolds, 6-2, 195, Villanova; Levance Fields, 5-10, 190, Pitt. The right size, the right speed. Just hand them a football.

WR: Jerome Dyson, 6-4, 190, Connecticut; Edgar Sosa, 6-2, 175, Louisville; Jerel McNeal, Marquette, 6-3, 200; Troy Jackson, Notre Dame, 5-11, 193; Jeremy Hazell, 6-5, 185, Seton Hall. These wideouts would definitely stretch the field.

TE: Sam Young, 6-6, 220, Pitt; Terrence Williams, 6-6, 220, Louisville. Enough to make any football receivers coach salivate. Of course, they'd need to gain a few pounds.

OL: Arinze Onuaku, 6-9, 275, Syracuse; Yancy Gates, 6-9, 255, Cincinnati; Steve Tovlov, 6-8, 255, Cincinnati; Samardo Samuels, 6-9, 260, Louisville; Luke Harangody, 6-8, 255, Notre Dame; Justin Burrell, 6-8, 240, St. John's. It would be just like setting picks for them. The question would be: Could Flynn or Price see over them?

DL: DeJuan Blair, 6-7, 265, Pitt; Jeff Adrien, 6-7, 243, Connecticut; John Garcia, 6-9, 265, Seton Hall; Dante Cunningham, 6-8, 220, Villanova; Rick Jackson, 6-9, 240, Syracuse. Anyone who saw Blair's takedown of UConn's 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet could well imagine him dismembering quarterbacks.

LB: Paul Harris, 6-4, 230, Syracuse; Austin Freeman, 6-4, 230, Georgetown; Alex Ruoff, 6-6, 220, West Virginia; Jessie Sapp, Georgetown, 6-3, 217; Wellington Smith, 6-7, 230, West Virginia. Harris and Freeman already look like linebackers.

DB: Eric Devendorf, 6-4, 180, Syracuse; Paul Gause, Seton Hall, 5-11, 188; Cory Fisher, 6-1, 185, Villanova; Troy Jackson, 5-11, 193, Notre Dame; Dominic James, 5-11, 185, Marquette; Jerry Smith, 6-2, 202, Louisville. Devendorf gets points for sheer meanness, Gause would be good for turnovers.
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