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6 hours ago
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The world of college sports has never been more different than it is today. Whether that’s referring to NIL or the transfer portal, college athletes now have more freedom than ever before to move around to different teams and chase life-changing money in the process. However, there are still some moves that occasionally happen that catch fans by surprise.
One rare move that is seen every so often is players switching sports. While there are plenty of examples of players crossing over between baseball and football, there are also more rare ones. One of those was when former lacrosse star Pat Spencer opted to play one season of college basketball for Northwestern after being a star on the lacrosse field, and eventually turned that into making the NBA and featuring in the rotation at times for the Golden State Warriors.
Over in Clemson, news has broken that college basketball star Ian Schieffelin is set to leave the hardwood and make the pivot to the gridiron and play for Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. Schieffelin was the ACC’s Most Improved Player for the 2023-24 season and made All-ACC Second Team this past season for the Tigers. While Schieffelin’s accomplishments on the hardwood are likely enough to at least give him a career overseas, he’s making a change and exercising his final year of eligibility.
According to On3, Schieffelin starred for his high school playing as a quarterback and tight end, before ending up making the move to basketball. Standing at 6-foot-8 and 240 lbs, Schieffelin has elite size for a tight end and could become a major red-zone threat if used properly.
Also mentioned in the article, it wouldn’t be the first occurrence like this at Clemson. Ex-Tigers star DeAndre Hopkins first started on the hardwood before pivoting to football after his freshman season, a move that made a ton of sense as he’d go on to become one of the best receivers in the NFL during his time with the Houston Texans.
Clemson’s top tight end from this past season, Jake Briningstool, has since left for the NFL and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. While there might be other options on Clemson’s roster already that are a better fit to replace Briningstool, Schieffelin’s size provides intrigue for Clemson and could become an interesting target for projected Heisman candidate Cade Klubnik to throw to.
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