Green Bay Packers eyeing Kansas State hoopster Thomas Gipson
By Phil Watson
The Green Bay Packers might be looking at something not unheard of in the NFL, but still unconventional.
Kansas State basketball player Thomas Gipson has never played organized football. But that didn’t stop the Packers from working out the 6-foot-7, 265-pounder as a tight end earlier this week.
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“I have never played organized football, ever,” Gipson told The Wichita Eagle (via the Wisconsin State Journal). “But I am ready to start. Depending on what the Packers tell me, I am ready to fully commit to football.”
The Packers were impressed with his size and hands in watching him play basketball. In the workout, he caught throws both from a stationary position and while running routes.
“I caught the ball pretty well and I moved well,” Gipson said. They said I move pretty athletic for a guy my size.
“I put in a week’s worth of practice before the workout. I really don’t know what to do a lot of the time, but it came natural to me. The nice thing is they understood that. When they called, they said I knew I haven’t played. They just wanted to see if I was willing to work with them and I was.”
Gipson posted some video on social media from his workout.
Gipson averaged 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game for the Wildcats as a senior, shooting .549/—/.761.
Not considered a prospect for the NBA Draft, Gipson was prepared to move forward with his basketball career, overseas if he had to.
Feb 23, 2015; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats forward Thomas Gipson (42) drives to the basket against Kansas Jayhawks forward Cliff Alexander (2) during the Wildcats
But when a Packers scout told Gipson he might have a future as a tight end, the Dallas native started catching footballs in his spare time.
“They said they had seen me playing during the Kansas game,” Gipson said. “I guess they had been following me ever since. They watched film on me and called me and they said they wanted to see me play tight end. It was kind of exciting.”
All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham, recently traded to the Seattle Seahawks, and Pro Bowler Julius Thomas, who just signed a free agent deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, were both college basketball players before switching sports while still in school.
Graham played four years of basketball at Miami and played football as a senior with the Hurricanes. Thomas was a double-digit scorer as a senior at Portland State and in his first season of college football was an All-Big Sky Conference selection at tight end.
There are others in the NFL with college basketball backgrounds, including San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and retired stars Tony Gonzalez and Terrell Owens.
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Gipson says he thinks he can follow those examples.
“I have looked all that stuff up,” Gipson said. “I am not oblivious to it. I’m sure I can do it. That’s just how I am. I try to be a perfectionist in everything I do. If I have the chance to be a tight end, I am going to be the best tight end that I can be.”
If Gipson impressed enough to earn a post-draft look from the Packers, he said he will put his basketball career on hold and chase a career in professional football.
The Packers have had success finding talent in unusual places and Gipson certainly has the size to be an intriguing possibility at a position where the Packers could use some additional athleticism.
After all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.