In the age of modern sports, the days of two-sport athletes are all but gone. Thirty years ago, Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders were able to light up the baseball field and football gridiron, but many famous athletes played multiple sports and were good enough to go pro. Tom Brady was drafted by the Patriots and Montreal Expos, Kyler Murray by the Cardinals and Athletics, and David Winfield was drafted to MLB, NFL, NBA, and ABA. Now, most college recruited athletes stick to one sport and focus on it with dreams to go pro – that’s why what Keon Coleman did was rare. Coleman as a member of the MSU basketball team, got into the game for the first time this season, and in his one minute, he scored one basket. With that basket, he is the first player to score a touchdown and a basket for an AP Top-10 football & basketball in the same academic calendar season since former Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward did in 1992-93. Ward was a star QB at Florida State, winning Heisman Trophy, but chose a career in basketball as he was drafted as the 26th overall pick in 1994 and spent ten years in the NBA playing for the Knicks, Kings, and Rockets. Coleman has not seen much playing time for the Spartans in either sport as he played just four games for the football team, but he’s only a freshman and could find a niche in the upcoming years.
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