Two Sports Stars fail in the end and Michigan has two high profile examples

Everybody wants to be John Elway. A Major League Baseball prospect and the top college football player in the nation. He picked one sport and did pretty well for himself. Many high school athletes are two sports stars and most recent example is, Terrelle Pryor the top HS football recruit in the nation also happened to be a top 100 basketball recruit as well.


During the first days of Business schools they teach you that partnerships don't work. In the last days of senior high they should teach these High School dual sports stars that playing two sports in college doesn't work either. Terrelle, even though getting poor advice on where to attend school, seemed to have gotten good advice on this topic and announced this winter he would only be playing football for the Buckeyes.


As we look back at "high profile" two sports stars it's hard not to think about Drew Henson, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and even Rick Leach. Michigan as been home to two high profile QB's that tried their hand at Professional Baseball.


Drew pretty much broke our hearts as Wolverine fans. Sports Illustrated tabbed him the "Golden Boy" ten years ago. A can't miss prospect for both Baseball and Football. We all remember him backing up Brady and when he finally got his shot he got hurt and then came in (after sitting for 4 games) and beat Illinois on the road when it looked like the Wolverines were headed for a loss. He ends his career with a win against OSU in Columbus and an Orange Bowl victory before he jettisons off to the Yankees with one more year left in Ann Arbor. The story goes, on the way up to his announcement the brand new Houston Texan's call his cell phone and tell him not to play baseball full time that he would be their #1 pick in the draft that next year (and the #1 pick overall). Well, we all know too well he choose baseball and baseball found out he couldn't hit the curve ball. He played 8 games in the majors and got one hit. He hung up his baseball cleats and tried Football one more time but that didn't work out well either. He threw for one NFL touchdown with the Cowboys before getting released.



Rick Leach was basically Drew Henson before Drew Henson was born. Same sort of guy (and would have been perfect for RR's offense by the way). He broke Big Ten records for touchdowns (82) total offense (6460) and touchdown passes (48) but baseball was where his true calling was as a can't miss prospect. Well he did miss, he played 10 years in the league as basically a back up for the Tigers and Blue Jays, his career average was .268 and he hit a total of 18 home runs.



Those are Michigan's most famous examples of two sports stars flaming out. We all know about Deion trying to play baseball (even Jordan trying it) and how close Bo Jackson actually got to being great in two sports. If your a two sport star and a high school senior (Dion Sims is a good example this year, he is prospect for both Basketball as a 6"5 forward or football as a TE in the State of Michigan) and a top prospect in both sports, do yourself a favor and pick one sport and do your best to succeeded in it. Your never know what the professional ranks have in store for you.

Side Note: I did not take into account sports like track. Of course it's natural for football player to run track as well. Track (unless your world class) doesn't really have the professional opportunities as do Basketball, Football, or Baseball.

Second Side Note: You may not know that Frank Thomas played (Tight End as a Freshman and caught 3 passes for 45 yards) football with Bo Jackson at Auburn for a year before he decided to stick to Baseball. Good Move Frank!!