Golson hopes to play two sports

HAWTHORNE, Calif. - It was a rather mundane game after a long weekend at the NIKE EYBL Session No. 3 AAU basketball tournament between the South Carolina Ravens and Seattle Rotary - and then Everett Golson made something incredible happen.

The feisty 6-foot point guard dribbled the ball up the court in transition, blasted into another gear, put the ball around his back in the lane and then hit a scoop layup over two defenders while looking over his shoulder with his back to the basket.

The move was spectacular, so much so that all the scribes covering the event from various media organizations picked up their pens and wrote about it. Late in the weekend, the tournament in its final stages, sometimes media members are counting down the minutes until things wrap up. Bags are packed. Computers are put away.

But Golson's move was something too good to forget. Everybody was writing.

What's especially interesting is that Golson, from Myrtle Beach, S.C., has committed to North Carolina to play football but he's also going to attempt to play basketball for the Tar Heels.

Numerous athletes have attempted that in the past - Allen Iverson and Ronald Curry come to mind - and Golson wants to be the next to chase his dreams.

"My first love is basketball," Golson said. "My dream has always been to play basketball at North Carolina. It's kind of like the first chance I got was the best one and so I jumped on it.

"I talked to a couple of the assistant coaches (at North Carolina) and they told me it was going to be a challenge and that I was going to have to work really hard. I hope I can do it."

Golson, who also had offers from Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and others, has pretty much done everything he wants in his sports career so why not this?

In his junior season, the dual-threat quarterback completed 61 percent of his passes for 3,570 yards with 44 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 142 yards and three scores.

Golson's also a smart kid and realizes just how difficult playing two sports - especially football and basketball at North Carolina - will be. But that's another reason why many believe he can accomplish it - because he's not going in blindly.

"Of course it's going to be hard," Golson said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's going to bring out the hard work in me and I'm going to show that to the coaches and prove to them that I'm determined to do it.

"I felt like they were going to give me the best option for football and basketball was my dream so I went for it. I always played basketball before I played football. It was kind of different to get used to playing football but people are telling me I'm better in football."