Will Risky Transition to Football Pay Off for Clemson Tigers Former Forward?

The former Clemson Tigers star forward risked his basketball career for football—will the reward be worth the risk?

Clemson Tigers forward Ian Schieffelin (4) speaks to the media during a press conference. | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

One of the hottest topics to involve the Clemson Tigers over the past few months revolves around former basketball player Ian Schieffelin and his major shift to football, leaving behind his career on the court.

Following the drastic announcement that the 6-foot-8 forward would be joining the Tigers' football program, basketball fans were rather disappointed to hear that they were losing such a prolific player.

However, Schieffelin has his eyes fixated on goals beyond his collegiate years.

Will Schieffelin's Transition Pay Off?

Time will tell if Schieffelin made the right move in terms of his athletic career, but men's basketball head coach Brad Brownell is showing some confidence in his former player's decision.

Although losing a valuable player is never ideal, it's clear that Brownell keeps his players' best interests at heart.

"It'll be interesting to see how it all works out," Brownell told ACC PM, per Grayson Mann of TigerNet. "I don't think it is one of those deals where he's the starting tight end at Clemson; he just needs to get some experience. There are guys that Dabo pointed out that played very little football and have gotten drafted, who are basketball guys and had a lot of success in the NFL."

Healthy risks are often necessary in order to see positive results—the same mindset applies to athletics. Schieffelin chose to take a risk and plans to put in the work to achieve the desired results.

As further reported by Mann, Brownell told ACC PM that Schieffelin is, of course, making a sacrifice but is equipped with the skills needed to be successful.

The former forward will irrefutably need time to adjust and develop on the field, but his transition to football has the potential to turn into a major success story. If he can perform on the field as he did for years on the court, he will be unstoppable.