Colts sign Notre Dame basketball player to convert to NFL tight end

Carson Towt, welcome to the NFL.

The Indianapolis Colts signed Towt on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, and it's a pretty fascinating move for one reason -- Towt is a basketball player.

Towt just concluded his college basketball career at Notre Dame, where he was a strong interior presence for the Fighting Irish.

Now, he's coming to pro football.

It's not an unprecedented path. The Colts themselves have Mo Alie-Cox, who was a power forward at VCU in college and didn't play college football.

Some of the best tight ends ever were also basketball players in college -- Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham (with Gates being exclusively a hooper in college).

Maybe Towt can be next.

MORE: Why the Kansas City Chiefs traded for Justin Fields

Carson Towt basketball career timeline

Towt is originally from Gilbert, Arizona, and he didn't have any Division I scholarship offers, so he walked on at Northern Arizona.

He averaged a nation-leading 12.4 rebounds per game as a senior, then transferred to Notre Dame for his final year of college.

Towt averaged 5.9 points and 9.0 rebounds per game for the Fighting Irish.

That's after Towt scored 1,199 career points and grabbed 1,078 career rebounds at Northern Arizona.

Carson Towt height, weight

This is the most intriguing part for the Colts:

• Towt is listed at 6-foot-8.
• Towt's official weight is 250 pounds.

If he can show strong hands at that size, he can be a great red zone threat.

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