Deone Walker, Maxwell Hairston tease trying out for Kentucky basketball on social media
Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston were named to preseason All-SEC Teams for their excellence on the gridiron. But how would their skills translate to the hardwood? They apparently would like to give it a go.
As we learned last week, the Kentucky men’s basketball team is hosting open tryouts for the 2024-25 season. This is something we’ve seen regularly with the women’s basketball program over the years, but it was not a common practice under former head coach John Calipari. New head coach Mark Pope is changing that though in hopes of finding an extra end-of-bench piece for his debut season.
Walker and Hairston teased on social media Sunday that they would like to sign up for the tryout, which is set for August 30 from 6-8:30 a.m. EST. Hairston even went as far as to say he “will indeed be there”. Shoutout to KSR’s Daniel Hager for the great tweet too that helped catch the football player’s eyes.
Obviously, there is a very, very, very low chance that either actually goes through with the tryout. The other head coach at UK named Mark would probably prefer them to focus on the upcoming season. Also, the tryout is the morning before Kentucky’s season opener against Southern Miss on August 31.
So there goes that pipe dream.
But it did get us thinking over on KSBoard: what would it look like if Walker did play college basketball? And who would be the best current football player on the basketball court? As a friendly reminder, Big Deone is listed at 6-foot-6, 345 pounds. He’d be a bit undersized as a center, but good luck boxing him out for a rebound. Walker did play basketball in high school at Cass Tech in Detroit, MI, so he’s no stranger to some hoops.
If we’re building a Kentucky football starting five for basketball, you have to think that big Malachi Wood — a 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman offensive lineman — would bring the size down low. Fill out the frontcourt with someone like Walker or the other 6-foot-6 lineman on the roster. JJ Weaver has good size on the wing (does the extra finger help him shoot better?). Dane Key is the long two-guard while Brock Vandagriff leads as the floor general.
This is the crossover event we all need to see.
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