Will Tramain Thomas be able to walk on his college basketball team?

[Bucof2010]

Anyone think he has the ability? Talentwise? Size?

[CATMAN]

Yes  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[2qwik4u]

I believe he will, he has the size and can always work on improving himself talent wise if he wants it bad enuff.

[the wise one]

he probably has the ability but i never like to see kids play both in college very rarely do they excel to their max potention when they do both he needs to just focus and be the best he can be at one sport

[whsalum]

Tramain is a tremendous player but I think he would be better served to concentrate on the defensive backfield at Arizona.There are a lot of D1 schools he could probably play at but I'm not sure about Arizona they are big time.

[Guest etbu]

Jarod Johson Aggie QB tried it and did play BB last year but gave it up bc way to hard. Plus M Bennett played a year or two did he not?

[Icky3284]

1st things 1st, he decommitted to Arizona and now will attend Univ. of Arkansas. 

He definetly has the talent to play at the next level in basketball, but there is no chance he will ever step on the basketball court once he gets to Fayettville.  They will have him so busy bulking up and getting faster in the off season there will be no time for B-ball.  Simply the life of Big Time College Football!!

[UT#1]

he may be good enough to play bball at some smaller d1 colleges but hes nowhere near the level to play at az or arkansas...great football player and a good bball player..

[Guest DickVitale]

NO WAY...Reason being is really due to the football coaches and their attitudes about guys playing other sports in the football off season..Could he play at Arkansas?...Probably not, but, that football coach is not having it either way...

[bringiton]

I've watched this guy play for 4 years.

He can play D1 basketball or football.

But not both.

[highsky]

Collegewise, he will be better suited for football, but he could play bball at a small D1 school (given his size, what is he? about 6'1")...not at ARK, though.  I think he will be a solid football player for them.  Very fast, smart and can hit.  I think Bball at the college level, esp. the bigger D1 schools, would give him fits (I have noticed that he has a hitch in his dribble, almost seems to carry it).

[shermdog]

DickVitale is right.  The coaches probably will not allow it.  At that level, I would not.  The pressure to win is too great to lose a player to injury in another sport. The offseason is too important to the development of an athlete.  Also, going from FB to BB,  If you make a bowl game you miss over two months of basketball.  Just my $.02

[BLUEDOVE3]

See, a kid like him could go to a smaller D-1 school and play both sports. He could almost demand in his "unwritten contract" that he play both.

[highsky]

See, a kid like him could go to a smaller D-1 school and play both sports. He could almost demand in his "unwritten contract" that he play both.

he could, but if he wants to have a pro career someday, then he needs to be on the biggest stage possible and Arkansas is it.  Nothing quite like the SEC stage (Big 12 guy here, but SEC, for my money, is the best conference for pro talent).  If he does well at ARK, then chances are he could be playing on Sundays.  But DickVitale is right, no college football coach in his right mind (wait, are we talking about Bobby Petrino???) would let a football player play basketball too.  Playing 2 sports increases the chance of injury, plus the workouts would differ a lot as well...the football workouts would not mesh well with the bball workouts.

[BLUEDOVE3]

What a wonderful situation to be in. To be able to sit back and decide on what school to attend to recieve an expense paid trip and receive an education. ;D

[Icky3284]

We all can come to the conclusion that the Arkansas coaches want let him play, but to say he couldn't play basketball at a Big 12 or SEC school in my opinion is wrong.  

Most neysayers would argue he plays against lower level talent, but my argument is that he plays against some of the best talent Texas has to offer on the AAU circuit.  He has proven he belongs with the "Big Boys."  I guarntee if he played at lets say Ozen, he would be getting recruited by numerous big colleges.  Like I said earlier, this is just my opinion but I would bet most scouts would back me on my thoughts.

[Guest DickVitale]

Icky, the thing is, that on the college level, particularly in D-1, 6-1 and 6'2 guards come a dime a dozen..You have to be a special type of player to be considered a viable option at that level and be shorter than 6'3-6'4. For example, TJ Ford, who at 5'11, was a gifted athlete, exceptional floor leader and ONLY played basketball.  Tremain is a good athlete and will do well playing D-1 football, but basketball is just not for anybody on that level.  Vince Young was 6'5 and a heck of a basketball talent, but Mack Brown would not hear of letting him play basketball even when he was a redshirt football player as a freshman...And VY COULD have played D-1 basketball with his size and ability, its just not something that is easily done in today's game.

[UKCats]

Jarod Johson Aggie QB tried it and did play BB last year but gave it up bc way to hard. Plus M Bennett played a year or two did he not?

Martellus played B-ball for 2 years, but he quit for the same reason. It was just too much work. He often times had 2 separate workouts in the same day when basketball season got closer and he said it was just absolutely killing him. I know lots of athletes who are capable talent wise, but it is often times just too much on them physically.

[Guest DickVitale]

Well, let's go here...How many lower level BASKETBALL players have actually played at major D-1's and excelled? Think about HJ's Ryan Donahoe and Kountze's Hancock boys...Even Richard Netherly from WOS..He had good D-1 size, but played post at WOS with no guard skills..College basketball coaches take a lot more things in consideration when recruiting kids.  Now on the football side, the small school kids have a much better shot, and the track record shows it..There are also MORE football scholarships to gamble on as well.  Basketball is an ELITIST sport..Everybody cannot play at the high major level, no matter WHAT they did in high school, whereas, in football if you were a stud at a small school, they would take a chance on you...agree?

[UKCats]

WOW. . .I would agree Dicky, that just looks strange on paper. In football you have more positions to fill and with a higher rate of injury you need to be deeper at each position, so taking a chance on a small town kid for football would pay higher dividends than taking that same small town kid for basketball. It is much easier to "hide" a less skilled player on the football field than it is on the hardwood. Just ask any junior high coach across the nation, they will tell you that's true.

[Icky3284]

NO NO NO, Im not arguing he should play both, because I totally think it would never fly.  Im saying if he decided he wanted to just play basketball and forgot about football, then he could play at the Big 12 or SEC level. 

Only guys that are 6'6" or bigger, great athletes, and can except being a role player (ex: Donovan McNabb at Syracuse) can play both football and basketball.  There are a few exceptions (Charlie Ward) but not many.

[Guest DickVitale]

If Tramain concentrated on basketball and did the AAU thing in the Houston summer circuit...Mid major (SFA, Lamar, Sam Houston, McNeese) would be about as high level D-1 as he could actually play, and he would fare reasonably well at that level in basketball..But when you are talking about Texas, A&M, Kentucky, and the LSU's....No. He has definitely chosen the right sport to have a chance to play in the SEC. 

[Icky3284]

I agree with you on the fact that Football was the right choice, because I totally think he will be playing on Sundays in about 4 to 5 years, but I couldn't disagree more with you on your comments of where he could play basketball at if he concentrated on it.  First, Baylor wanted him to come and play both football and basketball, so there is one Big 12 school.  Secondly, he played big time AAU ball since his Jr. High days in Houston with some of the best squads traveling all over the nation. 

Don't get me wrong, I never thought he was a Univ. of Texas, KU, or UK type player, but I personally think a place like Texas Tech would have been perfect for him if he would have played Basketball.  And you really can't compare Donahue, Netherley, are any other small school kid to Tramain.  Simply comparing apples to oranges.  I think he would have been a Dugat (Dayton player at Baylor) type player.  Good career at a average Big 12 school.

[footballfan5261]

he would rather play football anyday. so who cares.

[Guest DickVitale]

I could go with that to a certain extent..Dugat made it clear that he was a basketball guy that played football, too, though...Thomas is a football guy, that can play basketball, and that is the difference between the two. Dayton is also a 4A program too, which makes a bit of a difference as far as his basketball recruiting went.  I really don't think Tremain can PLAY in the Big 12, even at a Iowa State or Colorado...Definitely not at Tech or Baylor. WAC, Southland, or Sun Belt Conferences, and similar...He really is not a Major D-1 basketball prospect...But, I agree, it is likely he will play on Sundays in a few years, though! Good luck to him...