The No. 1-rated men's basketball signee in the nation, believe it or not, isn't at Kentucky or Duke.
He's at LSU, and after all the hard work Tigers coach Johnny Jones put into signing Ben Simmons, Jones now has football coach Les Miles recruiting Simmons to play football (kiddingly, we think) as a wide receiver.
"What a magnificent player, and I just want you to know, so you know, if he's interested in taking some snaps for us, he can come over," Miles said on Thursday, per the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "I'm very honest. And I can give him a goal-line position where I would throw it to him. All he's got to prove to me is one thing is that he can catch."
Miles has been known to say more with a half-cracked smile than with the spoken word. Still, he even wasn't finished there.
"If he can catch, and certainly we would all predict in this room that he could, he will set the NCAA record for touchdowns," Miles said. "We'll just send him over there, and when three guys are on him, we'll run it, OK? When two guys are on him, we'll throw him the ball."
In no time, Simmons will be asked about it, and Simmons would surely decline with a half-cracked grin himself. ESPN has rated Simmons at the top of a list of potential lottery picks for the 2016 NBA draft, so whoever Simmons' closest adviser is, he'd be a football injury away from having a lot of explaining to do.
Nevermind that Malachi Dupre, who could be poised to take over as the team's No. 1 receiver, can be very effective on the lob pass near the goal line, himself. See evidence of that at the 1:03 mark of these highlights from last year's Alabama game.
Yeah, look for Simmons to stay on the hardwood.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
