AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2014 Carter Meadows is, admittedly, concerned about feeling a void.<\/p>\n
He knows his future is in football. The fifth-best defensive end in the 2026 class and the No. 29 player overall according to the 247Sports Composite, Meadows is a rising senior at Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C., who entertained offers to play at football powerhouses like Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Auburn, among others. On June 29, he committed to Michigan, bolstering UM\u2019s class as the Wolverines\u2019 top recruit.<\/p>\n
But basketball was Meadows\u2019 first love, a sport he says is \u201cin my blood,\u201d which is why 16 days after picking football, he started his first game at Peach Jam.<\/p>\n
The premier Nike EYBL showcase event of the grassroots circuit, Peach Jam, is where college recruiters and NBA royalty pack the sidelines each summer to watch the next generation of basketball stars. It\u2019s the event, Meadows said, that kids dream about, the highlight of many players\u2019 club experience. If you can play well at Peach Jam, you can play anywhere. Meadows couldn\u2019t imagine skipping it.<\/p>\n
He was also curious who might be there watching him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever we\u2019d be walking around the gym, I was keeping my eye out for the maize and blue,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Does that mean Meadows, who is 6 feet 7, 235 pounds and averaged 9.0 points and 9.6 rebounds per game at Peach Jam, wants to play both sports in college?<\/p>\n
Specialization has become so common across America, it\u2019s not unusual for elementary-aged kids to focus all their energy \u2014 and parents\u2019 money \u2014 on one sport<\/a>. In college, playing multiple sports is rare, but doable: Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher led the Ducks with 94 total tackles last season and will play his final year of football this fall, despite being drafted by the Houston Astros<\/a> in the 13th round of the 2024 MLB Draft last July. At Notre Dame, Jordan Faison caught 30 passes for 356 yards as an Irish wide receiver last fall; he also plays on Notre Dame\u2019s lacrosse team. Texas freshman Jonah Williams<\/a>, the top-ranked safety in the 2025 class, enrolled early and started 15 games last spring for the Longhorns baseball team. Football players who double often do so by also competing in track, like Florida State All-ACC sprinter Micahi Danzy, a receiver on The Athletic\u2019s Freaks List this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Augusta, Meadows wasn\u2019t the only two-sport star thinking about his future. Kendre Harrison, the No. 2 tight end in the 2026 class from Reidsville, N.C., is a starter for Team CP3 who averaged 13.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game at Peach Jam. Harrison committed to Oregon in November and plans to play both football and basketball for the Ducks.<\/p>\n They\u2019re not the only dual-sport stars in the 2026 class, either. In early July, Syracuse scored a recruiting coup when Calvin Russell of Miami, one of the best receivers in the country, committed to the Orange. He is expected to play both football and basketball in college.<\/p>\n Dual-sport dreams on display<\/p>\n At Peach Jam, Meadows and Harrison, who are friendly, kept an eye on each other. They\u2019re familiar with each other\u2019s games and know the advantage they each bring to the court \u2014 a big, strong body that basketball-only athletes aren\u2019t used to banging into \u2014 would have likely been negated against each other had their teams matched up. (They didn\u2019t.) They admire each other, too, because they know how time-consuming it is to juggle two sports, school and a social life.<\/p>\n As of now, Meadows is planning to focus solely on football in college \u2014 he\u2019s excited about having a simple, straightforward schedule, he joked \u2014 though he wonders sometimes how easy it\u2019ll be to give up basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s lingering on my mind a lot,\u201d he said, adding that he believes Sherrone Moore and the Michigan football coaches would be \u201copen\u201d to him playing both \u201cif it was something I really desired.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no thinking about, could he do it, he absolutely can, he is absolutely good enough,\u201d said Steve Turner, who coached Meadows in basketball at Gonzaga College High, previously coached NBA star Kevin Durant and knows a thing or two about how good someone has to be to play college hoops. (Gonzaga also produced Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.)<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a different kid. He could\u2019ve gone to any Ivy League he wanted \u2014 he can really do anything and handle anything. The discipline it takes to be involved in both made him better at both.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes Meadows thinks it might be worth trying both \u201cjust to prove people wrong.\u201d That was part of his motivation in playing Peach Jam, he said. He hears the doubters. And he loves shutting them up.<\/p>\n Still, picking football, he said, was mostly a logical decision: \u201cIt would be difficult to balance both and keep my body in the best shape for football,\u201d he explained. He anticipates Michigan strength and conditioning coaches pushing him to add 15-20 pounds of muscle once he gets on campus.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up in a basketball family, I always thought that\u2019s the sport I\u2019d want to do,\u201d said Meadows, whose uncle Randy Ayers has coached in the NBA for 20-plus years. \u201cBut the way my body was developing, football took over. I mean, there\u2019s a bunch of 6-6, 6-7 dudes in basketball now. That\u2019s like the bare minimum at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n Harrison thinks about his size, too.<\/p>\n \u201cHeight-wise, I don\u2019t know,\u201d said the 6-foot-7, 243-pound Harrison. \u201cIf I grow to 6-9 or 6-10, I might have to throw football out the window.\u201d<\/p>\n Why picking one sport isn\u2019t so simple<\/p>\n He\u2019s joking, mostly. But basketball is important, to say the least. Harrison said schools that told him he wouldn\u2019t be allowed to play both football and basketball \u2014 like Ohio State \u2014 were immediately eliminated from consideration. During his visit to Oregon, both staffs assured him they\u2019d work together to make Harrison\u2019s transition from football to basketball as smooth as possible. They also promised him \u201c24\/7 access to the gym so I can get shots up, whenever I want.\u201d<\/p>\n Oregon has a history of multi-sport stars, too: Besides Boettcher, Oregon\u2019s Devon Allen was a star receiver from 2014-16 who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and competed in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Jordan Kent was a football, basketball and track athlete from 2002-06 who bounced around NFL practice squads for a few seasons.<\/p>\n But as a North Carolina resident, Harrison is much more familiar with former UNC two-sport star Julius Peppers, an All-American defensive end who walked on to the Tar Heels basketball team. Peppers eventually focused on football, becoming a nine-time Pro Bowler over a 17-year NFL career. Harrison has met and talked with Peppers, who encouraged the young two-sport star to \u201cnot let other people get to me or tell me I can\u2019t do something.\u201d<\/p>\n Playing just one sport in college is demanding as it is. This upcoming season marks the first time athletes will be paid directly by their schools via revenue sharing, with power conference schools expected to dedicate 70-80 percent of the $20.5 million cap to football. Theoretically, an athlete who decided to play two sports could get more rev-share money from his or her school by playing two sports.<\/p>\n Both Meadows and Harrison said NIL wasn\u2019t a factor in their decisions to play one or two sports. Meadows said he \u201cdidn\u2019t start playing football and basketball because I wanted to make NIL money when I was older, and I don\u2019t want to lose sight of that. I\u2019m grateful for any dollars I get.\u201d Harrison didn\u2019t ask specifically if playing both would mean more money, and isn\u2019t concerned about it; from an NIL perspective, he said he feels taken care of and valued. Both declined to share details of what they\u2019ve been told they could make their freshman seasons.<\/p>\n Regardless of how their college and\/or pro careers play out, both Meadows and Harrison are adamant that playing two sports helped mold them into the highly coveted recruits they\u2019ve become. Meadows credits basketball\u2019s \u201cfluidity of movement\u201d with helping him change direction on the football field. Harrison said basketball conditioning has helped in football. \u201cWhen you have to grab a rebound and go right back up to score, the explosiveness I have in football is from that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Erik Teague, Harrison\u2019s high school football coach at Reidsville, said the hand-eye coordination required in basketball helps Harrison excel as a tight end. Playing multiple sports also keeps athletes fresh from a mental perspective, Teague said.<\/p>\n Harrison\u2019s path to playing both in college is already inspiring those around him. His point guard at Reidsville and with CP3, Dionte Neal, is a 2026 wide receiver who\u2019s started to get offers to play both in college, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThose young kids who are only playing one sport, they get overwhelmed,\u201d Teague said. \u201cPlaying multiple sports, with different challenges and different goals, that\u2019s good for a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n It increases their popularity, too. In Reidsville, Teague described Harrison and Neal as \u201clocal celebs,\u201d particularly with all the nearby elementary school kids. Fifth graders, for example, think it\u2019s unbelievably cool to star in two sports.<\/p>\n Why limit yourself, Harrison figures, especially when no one knows exactly what the future holds? Maybe he\u2019s destined for greatness in something else. After all, he said, if given the opportunity, he\u2019s confident he could become a star lacrosse player, too.<\/p>\n He\u2019s joking again. Mostly.<\/p>\n (Photo of Carter Meadows: Mark J. 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