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David Newton
Charlotte, NC – The Carolina Panthers signed a great project to develop as a closed wing.
Great as in 6 feet 8 and 245 pounds.
The former basketball player of Division I, Colin Granger, will begin his trip to football after five years of playing university basketball in Ohio, Western Carolina and Coastal Carolina this season.
Because he is five years old from high school, he was available to sign as a free agent. It was eligible to be recruited by any team last year.
It will compete to play with Tommy Tremble, Ja’tavion Sanders, Jordan Matthews, James Mitchell and Dominique Dafney.
This is not the first time that Carolina Dave Canales coach and General Manager Dan Morgan have been part of an experiment with a former basketball player. Both were in Seattle when the Seahawks signed the former basketball player and football of Western Kentucky George Fant (6-5, 315 pounds) to be a closed tank/wing hybrid.
Fant has played seven seasons with Seattle, the New York Jets and the Houston Texans. Fant has been working with Granger and told the Panthers about him.
The difference is that Granger has not played football since the eighth grade.
The Panthers expect Granger to follow the steps of Tony González, Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and others who have gone from university basketball to NFL as successful closed wings.
