Having mastered the artwork of basketball, Clemson star ahead Ian Schieffelin is making the transition to soccer and play subsequent season for the Tigers underneath coach Dabo Swinney, he introduced Friday.
Schieffelin is coming off a profession yr on the hardwood. He earned All-ACC honors and averaged 12.4 factors, 9.4 rebounds and a pair of.7 assists per sport for a Tigers staff that gained a program-best 27 video games. He has exhausted his faculty eligibility as a hooper, however NCAA guidelines permit him to make the most of one other yr of eligibility on scholarship in a special Division I sport.
The transition comes as a direct outcome from a cellphone name Schieffelin had with Swinney two weeks in the past.
“Dabo simply walked me by the chance he was keen to offer me, and all of it sounded nice, one thing I wished to leap on,” Schieffelin informed ESPN. “It actually simply sparked my curiosity in desirous to strive, and with the ability to placed on a Clemson jersey once more was very attractive to me.”
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound former energy ahead is predicted to play tight finish for the Tigers.
“He has elite soccer measurables that I imagine will translate nicely,” Swinney informed ESPN. “I am trying ahead to serving to him transition and construct a soccer basis that can give him an opportunity to not solely assist us at Clemson but additionally give him an opportunity to play professional soccer. It needs to be enjoyable.”
Clemson has a void to fill after shedding beginning tight finish Jake Briningstool, the staff’s second-leading receiver in receptions final season with 49, to the NFL. Schieffelin would not have intensive expertise in soccer past taking part in as a quarterback early in his highschool profession, however he might be part of an extended checklist of former hoopers-turned-footballers to search out success that features Mo Alie-Cox, Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham.