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David Newton
Charlotte, NC – “What’s up brother! I am starting a program in which I am helping the Atlético Basketball boys to the transition to the NFL … te/ol. Basically, I check a type database that conforms to a certain way that translates into football and I think you have the opportunity to make that transition. … If you are interested, let me know and we can cut it. “
Carolina Panthers’s new wing, Colin Granger, thought it was a joke at the beginning.
It was at the beginning of March and the center of 6 feet 8 and 245 pounds in Coastal Carolina was finishing its fifth season of university basketball in its third school when he received the previous message on Instagram of George Fant, a person he had never heard about, asking if he would like to try the NFL.
It doesn’t matter that Granger has not played football from eighth grade. Fant was willing to fly to Kentucky, put it at home, feed him with his personal chef and train him with the hope that at least a NFL team would be interested.
“It was very skeptical,” said Granger. “But he said he was an NFL player. He has a verified account. He has followers. Then you can clearly see that he is a real person.
“But at first glance of the message, I thought it was false.”
It was not a joke. And less than a month later, not one, but five teams (the Panthers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans and Filadelphia Eagles) came to Atlanta for the professional day of Granger before the Panthers signed it a few days later.
For Granger, 23, is the beginning of a whirlwind with which he never dreamed.
For Fant, 32, is the beginning of his dream of helping other university basketball players to the NFL transition. Fant never played university football, but in 2016, the Seahawks risked in the basketball player of 6-5 and 290 pounds from the west of Kentucky, adding it as a free not recruited free agent and making it an offensive backle. He is currently a free agent and has worked for several teams this low season.
Fant wants to start an academy for university basketball players, similar to the NFL International Route program that creates opportunities for athletes worldwide.
“I was looking at guys like Jimmy Graham and Antonio Gates who made the leap,” Fant said about the university basketball players who had successful closed wings of the NFL. “I was one of the first boys to make the transition to offensive Tackle.
“So this will definitely be a full -time concert for me after football. To be our year of proof, and for our first and only athlete obtain a contract three days after your professional day, we are obviously doing something well.”
Fant’s dream began last season when a knee injury led him to the injured reserve in Seattle.
While rehabilitated, he gathered a database of eight to 10 university basketball players that fit the profile that he thought could make the transition to the NFL. He reduced the list to two.
Granger, who averaged 7.2 points and 4.4 rebounds for the chanticleers last season, caught Fant’s attention in part because of the way he attacked the boards for offensive rebounds.
“Those things come from leverage,” Fant said. “That was one of my niches. In football you have to play with leverage. And offensive rebounds show that you are a really hard player.”
The explorer of the Panthers area, Adam Maxie, saw it on the professional day of Granger. But what made General Manager Dan Morgan and coach Dave Channels feel comfortable with the signature of this project player was the story they had with Fant when the three were with the Seahawks.
“For me, going to Seattle was great due to the culture they had,” said Fant. “If you look at Carolina, that’s the southern Seattle. Having confidence and belief in what I said, that means a lot to me and what I bring to the game.”
Granger is not the first university basketball player in which the Panthers risked.
Chris Manhertz had not played football before going to the Buffalo Bills in 2015 as a rookie not recruited from Canisius. Carolina claimed in October 2016 and began 26 games in five seasons.
Recently he signed again with the New York Giants after starting 11 games for them in 2024. He loves what Fant is doing to encourage more university basketball players to give NFL a chance.
“It will be useful, only the boys’ catwalk in the past and their history,” said Manhertz. “Types like Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham and I who made the transition, so it shows that it is not impossible.”
Gates is the most famous among a brief list of basketball players who went to NFL without experience in university football. It became an eight times Pro Bowl selection and is part of the class of the professional football hall 2025.
Manhertz, known mainly for his blockade, said that a unique capacity is needed to become an elite passes receptor as Gates did. He recalled that it is not easy to move from basketball to face load security in a pass in the middle.
“Physrianity and mentality are totally different,” he said. “Football is a violent collision sport. I just had to wire how I approached my training, my technique and even my mentality, knowing that it is a game of gladiators.”
Granger, who played runner and wing closed before putting his full focus on basketball after eighth grade, cannot wait for his first success.
“I want to get it out of the way,” said Granger, who appeared in Carolina Coastal with 6-9 with shoes and 225 pounds before adding weight with Fant. “It can hurt. It may not. I am also a rather large guy, so people will also be beaten by me.”
Fant does not see contact as a problem for Granger after the innumerable hours of studying it on tape and videos of YouTube.
“If you look, you’ll see that guy a blow,” said Fant. “He is not afraid to find the paint at full speed. And he is not running around the people. He is trying to cross them.
“These are all the things I am looking for when I am going through the process. I am not looking for guys that avoid contact. I am looking for guys that love contact, that can create contact … [things] They show me you are a physical player. ”
Granger is glad to have taken Fant’s initial message to follow up, instead of going to Europe to continue playing professional basketball.
He believes that Fant will open the door to others like him. He still cannot believe that five teams appear for his professional day.
“George continued to explain to me: ‘Friend, this never happens. As, it is incredible that five teams come here to see you,” Granger said. “He simply found me cold.
“George knows his things. So while he was skeptical at first, you never know what is going to happen now.”
