I said Chevon Troutman was making a mistake for trying to play any football while still holding out hopes of playing in the NBA. Yesterday, Ron Cook, said it was a mistake for Troutman because he didn’t have the passion for it.
Well his first tryout ended quickly. Troutman was cut after the first day.
It was a bad sign when coach Joe Gibbs at first couldn’t place Troutman. Gibbs had been asked for his assessment of the player whom the Redskins hoped might be the next Gates, who zoomed from Kent State basketball star to Pro Bowl tight end for San Diego in just two years.
“That’s a good question,” Gibbs said. “I wish you hadn’t have asked it. … oh, the basketball player. … San Diego starts it off and they get a tight end [Gates] who came out of basketball and plays great. You’d have to say running around in college basketball, there’s a lot of good-looking tight ends. Every time I see them, you’re like, ‘Good gosh, they’re all tight end potential.’ “
Sounds like Gibbs really wasn’t too enthused about bringing Troutman into camp in the first place.
“Chevon showed a lot of toughness and physical prowess on the basketball court that you hope translates onto the football field,” tight ends coach Rennie Simmons said. “When I saw him catch the ball, you could see that Chevon has some athletic ability, but he has a very long way to go. He started to come around towards the end of practice, but unfortunately, if you’re not sure what you’re doing, where to go or what foot to step with, you’re like a duck out of water.
…
“When they first threw everything at me, it looked like Spanish or something,” said the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Troutman, who halted his football career after he played defensive end and tight end as a high school junior. “It’s a lot different than basketball.”
You get the sense that both Troutman and the Redskins had, shall we say, ridiculous expectations of how it would go.
Well going into it, Troutman’s dad seemed more realistic that this was just a little test the waters thing.
Troutman and his father, Steve, drove to Washington yesterday. Steve Troutman said several NFL teams were interested in his son, who will be tried out at tight end.
“This gives him a chance to see how he feels about it,” Steve Troutman said. “It keeps him busy. The worst thing you can do is sit around and do nothing.”
Look, his heart is still set on playing basketball. There will be teams that get back in contact with him to gauge his interest after he figures out if he wants to play basketball overseas or not.
If you have to do the Antonio Gates comparisons, remember Gates tried to get into the NBA first. He failed, and then had to train for football. Then it took a year before he really saw playing time.
