If LeBron James had charted a different career path he could have brought his talents to South Beach much earlier. James was a highly coveted tight end by the Miami football program before deciding to stop playing football and concentrate on basketball.
If the Miami football program would have had their way LeBron James and Greg Olsen could have teamed up to form the greatest tight end duo in college football history. Before his decision to stop playing football, James was a highly coveted all-state tight end as a junior in 2001.
James has the prototype body to play tight end. Around the same time James nearing the end of his high school career, future Pro Football Hall of Fame TE Antonio Gates was leading Kent State basketball to four wins in the NCAA Tournament in a two-year span as a power forward about 15 miles away from James’ high school.
In an article naming the 10 best basketball-football players in their era dating to 1998, Rivals.Com listed James as the top dual-sport athlete in the two most popular high school and college sports. Former Miami power forward and tight end Jimmy Graham is third on the list. Graham began his Miami career as a basketball player.
Graham averaged 4.5 points per game, 4.5 rebounds and nearly one block per game in his college career. After his playing days on the hardwood at Miami ended, from 2005-09 Graham spent the 2009 season playing for Randy Shannon and the Miami football team. Graham had 17 receptions for 213 yards and five touchdowns.
The #RivalsCrossoverSeries next looks at the No. 1 prospects in football and basketball in 2004. It's an interesting matchup, too, with RB Adrian Peterson and big man Dwight Howard taking top honors that year. Who's our pick? ... https://t.co/NsXYv4qzOP pic.twitter.com/mk3901fyxk
— Rivals (@Rivals) May 25, 2020
"“A bit of an outlier on this list, Graham never even played high school football and is an incredible story. Though he was a four-star prospect in basketball, Graham wasn’t a nationally coveted hoops prospect.The native of North Carolina overcame a tough upbringing and landed at Miami, where he saw decent minutes but never put up particularly big numbers while starting in 40 of 120 appearances for the Hurricanes.After his hoops eligibility was exhausted, Graham stayed at Miami to give football a try as a graduate student. His one year was enough to get him taken in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.Thanks to his incredible combination of size, athleticism and agility, Graham has had a spectacular career that has seen him amass 7,883 yards, 74 touchdowns and five Pro Bowl nods.”"
Former Ohio State and Oakland Raiders QB Terrelle Pryor was a star basketball player in high school. Pryor starred at Ohio State and showed his athleticism by playing QB, wide receiver and TE in the NFL. Pryor was second on the Rivals.Com list in between Graham and James. James’ freakish athleticism is impressive.
"“LeBron James is going to go down as the most decorated athlete of the Rivals.com era and one of the game’s all-time greats because of what he’s done on the basketball court. But it’s quite likely that he could have also experienced incredible success in the NFL.Before taking off his senior year to concentrate on hoops and healing a broken wrist, James was a two-time all-state player and racked up more than 1,200 yards receiving and 16 touchdowns as a junior.Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and many others were interested, and Urban Meyer once commented that James could have been a first-round pick or possibly even a Hall of Famer in the NFL.Well, 16 All-Star Games, four MVP awards and three NBA titles since making the decision to focus on round ball, it’s tough to argue with his choice.”"
Lebron was the #1 football player in his state (which mean one of the top in the country), while also being the BEST basketball player in the COUNTRY! If you have a gift, use it! Don’t limit your opportunities! 💯 https://t.co/VLuLSlrRkQ
— Coach CJ Marshall (@CoachCJ_FB) May 24, 2020
James could have brought his talents to South Beach nearly a decade earlier. James would have been in the same Miami football signing class with currently Seattle Seahawks TE Greg Olsen. Teaming Olsen and James together at TE would have caused matchup nightmares for opponents. We will never know.
Olsen was a five-star signee with Miami in 2003. As the 10th ranked player nationally and the top-ranked TE in the class, future stardom awaiting the long-time NFL player who did bring his talents to South Beach. Olsen had 87 receptions for 1,215 yards and six TDs at Miami from 2003-05 before leaving for the 2006 NFL Draft.