Over the past month, we have seen a lot of crossover between the Orange football and basketball teams. It started when 2018 SU football commit Taj Harris announced he also wants to play for Jim Boeheim. Dino Babers said at this week’s ACC Media day that he wants to “play basketball on turf” and showed off his hoops knowledge by comparing his offense to the Showtime Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. Babers also praised Boeheim at ACC Media Day and even said that the Hall of Fame coach helped him out earlier this year by meeting with a football recruit while Babers was away.
Now, there is a new development in the relationship between the two sports. 2018 football commit Trill Williams told the Fizz that he intends to try out for the Syracuse basketball team when he arrives to campus. This would be an interesting twist for the Orange’s 2018 basketball roster. Not only would Harris and Williams not count against the scholarship limit (granted their playing time would be sparse at best), but Boeheim’s son, Buddy, is on Syracuse’s radar and also would not put a dent in the scholarship numbers.
Looking at Williams’ case, it is a little different at the moment than Harris’. First off, Williams told The Fizz that he has not been in contact with the Orange’s basketball staff, while Harris has met with SU assistant coach Adrian Autry about joining the hoops squad. Williams has not talked to Harris about playing basketball, but says it “would be cool if we both made the team.”
Williams also said that he did not get a chance to get looks by colleges to play basketball because he tore his ACL which forced him to sit out a season in both football and basketball. In a previous interview with The Fizz, Williams said that one of the reasons he picked Syracuse was because they stuck by their word after his injury.
As for Williams’ peripherals on the court, he stands at 6-foot-2 (same height as Donovan McNabb) and weighs in at 190 pounds, which is much bigger than your average walk-on. We are still a ways away from Williams coming to campus, but the prospects of potentially two football players on the basketball team always brings some extra intrigue to The Hill.
