Swinney on Zion: ‘Might even put him at’ QB
Zion Williamson records a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds as he leads Duke to a 71-69 comeback win. (1:28)
Zion Williamson might have a future in football if basketball doesn’t work out.
But Clemson‘s Dabo Swinney believes he could use the 6-foot-7, 292-pound Duke star right now. In a conversation with Mike Krzyzewski on the latter’s radio show on Thursday, the football coach who led his team to a national title last month said he’d put Williamson “wherever” he wanted to play on his team.
If Zion played 🏈: TE? LB? QB? RB? All of them?
Dabo Swinney and The Goat discuss. 🤔🤔🤔🤔
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“I’d put [Williamson] at tight end or wideout or [defensive] end or wherever he wanted to play,” said Swinney, per a clip released by Duke of the show that will air on ESPNU Radio at 6 p.m. ET Thursday. “We might even put him at quarterback.”
Krzyzewski chuckled before suggesting, “You’d run the Wildcat.”
Swinney responded: “Put in the Wildcat, no doubt.”
Williamson has been barraged with questions about his potential on the football field throughout his career. His father, Lateef Williamson, played in college.
Williamson told ESPN that two things stopped him from playing football in high school and pursuing his potential in the sport.
“I didn’t get this size until my junior year of high school,” Williamson said. “And my [high] school doesn’t have a football team.”
Despite his commitment to basketball, LSU reportedly offered him a football scholarship when he was in high school.
“I thought, ‘Hell, why not, he’s probably the best damn tight end to ever live,'” former LSU tight ends coach Eric Mateos told ESPN.
Mateos said that Ed Orgeron told him to find the “best athletes in the country,” and Williamson was on that list.