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Duce Robinson (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)
Popularized by the likes of Reggie Jackson, Deion Sander, Bo Jackson and others, a two-sport college career can generate significant acclaim.
In the NIL era with athletes being paid to play, it could be an incredibly lucrative situation, too.
The reality, though, is that the path to two-sport stardom has become increasingly difficult—and less common—to travel.
Restrictions generated by the current rules that govern college athletics are largely to blame. Florida State’s Duce Robinson, a top 200 MLB draft prospect in 2023, is a prime example of those difficulties.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound wideout initially signed with USC to play football and baseball. He caught 38 passes for 747 yards and seven touchdowns across two seasons with the Trojans while contributing sparingly on the diamond, where he appeared in four games and hit a double in six at-bats.
Robinson told Baseball America that had he remained in Southern California, he more than likely would have participated in baseball again.
However, that wasn’t the plan.
Robinson put his name in the transfer portal in December and immediately became one of its most coveted football prospects, ranking No. 7 overall and No. 3 among receivers, according to 247Sports.
But there was an issue: Robinson’s decision to transfer in the winter made him ineligible to participate in the baseball season, forcing him to take a baseball redshirt ahead of his junior football season.
Robinson told Baseball America that his baseball future was still up in the air this month. A quick evaluation of his circumstances, though, makes it seem rather unlikely that the former early-round hopeful returns to the sport.
Robinson will be NFL draft-eligible following the 2025 college season. With a big year, he’s almost certain to cash in.
“We are still figuring it all out right now,” Robinson said of his two-sport future.
Robinson is hardly the only one, either.
Austin Simmons, the favorite to earn Ole Miss’s starting quarterback job in 2025 following the departure of incumbent Jaxson Dart, decided to focus on football full-time despite a very successful showing as a true freshman southpaw reliever in 2024 when he appeared in 13 games and pitched to a 3.21 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 14 innings.
Simmons suffered a UCL sprain on April 25, 2024, which is believed to have played a significant factor in his decision.
“After having a conversation with Coach (Mike) Bianco,” an Ole Miss statement regarding Simmons’ decision read on Jan. 18, “Austin Simmons is no longer on the baseball roster so that he can concentrate on playing football.”
Tywone Malone, a 6-foot-4, 301-pound defensive tackle at Ohio State, hung up his baseball spikes following the 2023 season to focus full-time on football. It led him to transfer from Ole Miss, where he appeared in 13 games on the diamond and hit .263/.364/.737 with three home runs and five RBI across 2022-23.
Robby Ashford, once a four-star dual-threat quarterback and BA top 250 draft prospect, also moved on from baseball partway through his college career to focus on football, which has led him to four Division I schools, including his current and final destination, Wake Forest.
And the list goes on. Florida star quarterback DJ Lagway initially intended to give both sports a try in college but opted to focus on football only instead before enrolling. Mississippi State quarterback Blake Shapen, Miami quarterback Carson Beck, former Florida State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and Georgia quarterback Ryan Puglisi, among others, also opted to focus on their football careers over baseball.
Spring football practices and the physical rigor of that sport have proven to be limiting factors on two-sport hopefuls.
“You just have to focus on getting your routines down,” Lagway said on multiple occasions as a recruit regarding the challenges of playing two sports in college.
It works the other way, too.
Virginia starting pitcher Jay Woolfolk, who is in line to serve as the Cavaliers’ Saturday starter in 2025, is a former quarterback who opted to focus on football only.
Former Iowa starting pitcher Brody Brecht, the 38th overall pick in the 2024 draft by the Rockies, saw his baseball career soar after walking away from the gridiron, where he was a wideout for the Hawkeyes.
Former Clemson outfielder and 2024 Pirates fifth-round selection Will Taylor was also a wideout before wisely picking baseball only in 2023.
There are, of course, still some players who have successfully navigated what is becoming an increasingly difficult feat.
Oregon’s Bryce Boettcher, for example, has proven invaluable for the Ducks in football and baseball, winning the 2024 Burlsworth Trophy, which is awarded to the best college football player who began his career as a walk-on, roughly six months after he was named a 2024 ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winner for his play in Oregon’s outfielder.
Boettcher was drafted by the Houston Astros in 2024 and will likely resume his career with them after the 2025 college football season, which he applied for a waiver to participate in.
“If there’s an opportunity for us to have Bryce back that would be great for him,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said during a press conference last month. “He certainly deserves it. He hasn’t played four seasons of football here. I think he deserves that opportunity if it comes his way.”
To be sure, Boettcher’s success in two sports has always been rare. But it’s far from impossible.
Former UCLA outfielder and linebacker JonJon Vaughns and former Michigan outfielder and linebacker Joey Velazquez are recent examples of players who have pulled it off at a high level.
Missouri’s Sam Horn, a quarterback and pitcher, is trying to do the same with a power fastball and several years of football experience as a reserve under his belt. Northwestern quarterback Jack Lausch, who started 10 games and threw for over 1,700 yards for the Wildcats in 2024, is returning to baseball as an outfielder in 2025 after a three-year hiatus.
“Jack is an elite athlete with a high-level skillset and has an opportunity to make an immediate impact,” Northwestern head coach Ben Greenspan said. “His leadership qualities and character attributes are exactly what we look for in players, and we are thrilled to have Jack as part of our program.”
Lausch will be an interesting test case for future athletes making similar considerations of returning to their second sport after a break to focus solely on their first. It’s also a valuable example of the challenges associated with doing both at the same time, something that has become increasingly difficult in recent years, especially for players who opt to transfer in order to give themselves a better chance at success.
As such, it remains to be seen just how common two-sport collegiate careers will be in coming years.
As the demands on college athletes continue to grow, it’s clear that balancing two sports remains one of the rarer feats in collegiate athletics. Yet, for those who possess the exceptional discipline, talent and opportunity, the possibility of success remains—though the path to it is more difficult than ever.
“You have to have an unbelievable amount of discipline to pull it off,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan told Baseball America in December. “It’s rare for a reason.”
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