Basketball=Football?

Well we all know about the whole Greg Paulus experiment, but do you know anything about the Fendi Onobun experiment.

Let's take a quick look at this kid and what he can do...

Onobun played four years of basketball at Arizona, he showed enough potential that teams in Europe looked at him. But Onobun decided that he wanted to go another route.

Onobun decided that he wanted to play football. Onobun is an athletic kid, and at 6-6 250lbs people were interested to see what he could do. Then he ran a 4.5 forty yard dash and recorded a 37 1/2 inch vertical and a lot of people were interested . The Patriots, Panthers, and Bills took a look at this kid before deciding he probably needed to sharpen his skills, and by sharpen I mean actually play football, Onobun never has.

Guess which one he is...
(credit: daylife.com)

So his next step was to see if he could get another year of eligibility from the NCAA. He got it, and will attend the University of Houston this fall.

Onobun joins the Cougars with NFL type athleticism and size, and is reportedly challenging for a spot at TE already. But football is not a walk in the park and Onobun will have several hurdles to get over before NFL teams look at him to fill a roster spot.

I could go on all day about all the different things he needs to do to be a successful all around football player. But in reality he only needs to be who he is. Onobun is a big target who can go up and get the ball(assuming he can catch). With his speed he is a mismatch for LB's and with his size he is a mismatch for DB's.

Houston can't be asking a whole lot of Onobun because he has never played before. He will need to learn how to block and run routes. Coming from basketball he is certainly athletic, he will need to try to convert some of this athleticism to the gridiron. Early in the season he will be rusty, but no reason Houston can't throw one up for him in the redzone from time to time until he is ready to accept a bigger role.

I don't know what the battle at TE looks like in Houston but Onobun is a special talent that certainly has me wondering what he can do. Houston has a decent squad this year so Onobun has a chance to impress some people, the Cougars open at home against Northwestern State September 5th.