I fell in love with DeJuan Blair as an athlete, so to speak, when Pitt beat UConn on the road during in February. In that game, Blair outplayed UConn’s vaunted front court, dominating Thabeet for 22 points and 23 boards. That game really opened my eyes as to what kind of player Blair was and his abilities gave me the confidence to select Pitt as the team I thought would win it all. Naturally we all saw how that played out. Anyway, apparently Blair knows how skilled of an athlete he is and how rare his wide and bulky 6′7″ 265lb frame is. He thinks it could give him a career in football if the whole basketball thing doesn’t work out.

Blair hasn’t completely put his gridiron aspirations to bed.

As a 6-7 post player, an NBA future isn’t a certainty. And with Antonio Gates having drawn the blueprint, Blair admits he has thought about an NFL future as a tight end or defensive end.

“That’s my Plan B,” Blair said.

Aaron Wilson at PFT pointed that story out to me because it related to the news of a Cleveland State basketball player who plans to try out for some NFL teams. Apparently football has interested Blair all along but he had two torn ACLs in high school that prevented him from playing back then. Maybe some NBA team won’t be scared off by the knee injury history. They shouldn’t be; I see a lot of Elton Brand in him. (Or is that only because they look alike?)

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• DeJuan Blair Scores on His Own Basket

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