Stars switched from hoops to pigskin

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This article was published 11/04/2015 (4194 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not going to be easy, but Jordan Reaves can draw some strength from the fact the transition he is attempting to make this year from basketball to professional football has been bridged successfully by other players before him.

The most shining example of someone who made the jump from basketball to pro football late in life is San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates — and there are striking parallels between Gates and Reaves.

Like Reaves, Gates also played football as a teenager. Like Reaves, Gates abandoned football to play basketball exclusively in college. The two men even played the same position in basketball — power forward — and are both the same height — 6-4. And like Reaves, Gates also abandoned basketball after college to sign a pro football contract as an undrafted free agent.

What Reaves does as a pro football player remains to be seen — he signed with the Bombers just this week. But if he continues to parallel Gates, the Bombers will be delighted — the Charger tight end went on to a phenomenal career in football, taking down nine Pro Bowl nods and becoming the Chargers all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs.

And then there’s New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, who played four years of basketball with the University of Miami Hurricanes before switching to football in his final year. Graham showed enough with that one year of football that the Saints drafted him in the third round in 2010.

Graham didn’t do much in his rookie season in the NFL — suggesting there might be a learning curve for players trying to make this transition. But his second season with the Saints in 2011 was one for the ages, as Graham recorded 99 catches for 1,310 yards and 11 TDs to set a new club record for catches in a season and to become the first Saints tight end ever to record over 1,000 yards in a season.

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The Blue Bombers announced Friday afternoon they have signed import defensive lineman Nate Collins and import defensive back David Van Dyke.

Collins (6-2, 300, Virginia) played 11 games with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011 before spending the 2012 and 2013 seasons with the Chicago Bears. He finished his NFL career with 21 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Van Dyke (6-0, 185, Tennessee State) was a second-team all-Ohio Valley Conference selection at Tennessee State, where he recorded 52 tackles and two interceptions in his senior year.