Transfers are commonplace in college football, especially during the offseason. But transferring to pursue another sport? Well, that’s where the case of Colorado quarterback Shane Dillon is a little different.
The school announced on Tuesday that Dillon is transferring from the program to pursue basketball. Dillon, a redshirt freshman, says that basketball has always been his passion. The release did not say to where he would transfer, but playing for Colorado’s basketball team doesn’t sound like an option due to scholarship limits.
“I’ve grown up playing basketball my entire life, I’ve always been a basketball kid and have played since I was 4 years old,” said Dillon. “I was a late bloomer in football and never started playing quarterback until halfway through my sophomore year.
“I always kind of felt my decision that I had to play football was forced upon me a little bit. People told me I had to make a decision by the end of my junior year between football and basketball because quarterbacks all seemed to commit pretty early. Basketball has always been my passion, and even though I really enjoyed my year here, I felt the time is now for me to make the change.”
Dillon did not see any action in 2012 as he recovered from major shoulder surgery.
“We hate to see Shane go, he’s truly a phenomenal young man, but we understand what he wants to pursue,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “I felt like he definitely had a future in football, but as Shane and I discussed, it was going to take hard work to succeed in football, and it’s also the same for basketball. Instead of throwing passes for three hours in practice, he’ll be shooting baskets.
“But you just can’t change your passion, and his is basketball. It was a tough decision for him but one that he reached after working through it the entire year. We wish him the very best and we know that he will be successful in whatever he attempts in the future.”
Dillon is not the first Buffs quarterback to depart the program this offseason. In April, Nick Hirschman announced his plans to transfer and later said he would enroll at Akron. Jordan Webb, who started most of 2012, tore his ACL this spring and was allegedly involved in a fight away from the field in May. Now, the Buffs are getting dangerously thin at quarterback.