At an even seven feet, it’s safe to say Willie Cauley-Stein picked the right sport. Or did he?
You might know the 21-year-old as the dominant big man on Kentucky’s basketball team, which enters the NCAA tournament with an unblemished 34-0 record. Yet Cauley-Stein also was a force on the gridiron as a wide receiver for Olathe Northwest High School in Kansas. And when we say “force,” we mean “nearly impossible to stop.”
Here’s a glimpse of his highlights, courtesy of Bleacher Report.
That’s just not fair.
Cauley-Stein, who went by Willie Cauley back then, transferred to Olathe Northwest his sophomore year and wasn’t eligible to play football until his senior year. He certainly made the most of it, though, leading the state of Kansas with 1,265 receiving yards on 64 catches while scoring 15 touchdowns.
Here’s more highlights from that impressive senior campaign:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjNZtUGl4Ko&w=640&h=360%5D
These highlight reels — and, of course, Cauley-Stein’s eye-popping size — drew interest from several college football programs, including Kansas. The reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year obviously chose hoops instead and projects to be a top NBA draft pick. Yet several NBA teams believe he actually could be taken as a late-round flier in the NFL draft, according to the Kansas City Star.
We’d imagine Cauley-Stein is more focused on cutting down the nets in Indianapolis in April, but if the whole basketball thing doesn’t work out, maybe he could go dominate NFL cornerbacks instead.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@sportingnews
