Most college football players with eligibility remaining use the time between their bowl games and spring practice to both recover from a grueling season and begin preparing themselves for a new football season.
DeAndre Hopkins, on the other hand, will be using at least some of his time helping his school’s shorthanded basketball team.
Following conversations between football coach Dabo Swinney and basketball coach Brad Brownell, it’s been agreed that the Clemson wide receiver will join the basketball team following the Meineke Car Care Bowl Dec. 31 against USF. The Anderson Independent Mail described the arrangement as an three-week, open-ended tryout. That time frame will allow Hopkins -- nicknamed “Nuke” -- to get into some form of basketball shape while also allowing Brownell to figure out how the receiver may fit into some type of rotation.
“Nuke wants to try and see if he can help them, because they’re a little short on numbers right now,” said Swinney. “We told him during the recruiting process that we’d be open to that. I have no problem with it. My only thing is that if he’s going to be over there, he doesn’t need to be pulling splinters out of his rear.
“If he can help them, then go help them. And if not, get back over here and go to work. We’re going to basically give it three weeks, and give him time to learn what they’re doing and get into basketball shape, and let Brad get a good evaluation of him. If Brad thinks he can help him down the stretch in a role, then he can stay over there and help them out.”
Hopkins was a four-year starter and three-time all-state player in hoops during his high school days, so the dude can obviously ball. Of course, there’s a risk of the freshman getting hurt and whether it’s worth taking said risk with a promising football career being built; then again, he could also get hurt walking down the street or riding a scooter, so if the player and the coaches are fine with it might as well go for it.
Hopkins led all Clemson receivers this past season in catches (43), yards (532) and touchdowns (4).