Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
From scratch
Ex-Canes basketball player Erik Swoope has a lot to learn about playing in the NFL.
Erik Swoope’s teammates ruined the celebration.
Last week, the Indianapolis Colts tight end scored his first touchdown at any level of organized football. The former Miami Hurricanes basketball player had planned to perform the “Cabbage Patch” dance like Juwan Howard did during his days with the Fab Five at the University of Michigan.
It never happened, because Swoope’s teammates were just too excited about the moment.
“I was so ready to do it but my teammates just ran up to me and jumped on me,” Swoope said. “I was just so excited and I didn’t want to push them away. I was like, ‘I’ve just got to get back in the end zone again.”’
The score added to what has been an unlikely journey for Swoope. After his UM hoops career ended in 2014, he figured he would play basketball overseas. He had a few offers but things changed after a conversation with Miami coach Jim Larranaga.
Larranaga informed Swoope that a few NFL scouts had inquired about the possibility of him switching sports.
“I thought he was joking,” said Swoope, who averaged 5 points and 2.7 rebounds his senior season at UM. “I had never played a day in my life. I watched some football. My older brother and my dad played football, but aside from that my life was basketball.”
The reason for the interest was simple. At 6 feet 5 inches and 257 pounds, Swoope was considered a “tweener” on the basketball court because he had no true position. On the football field, those dimensions combined with athleticism were a perfect fit for tight end.
Now, Swoope, a backup who has 13 receptions for 230 yards this season, is hoping to join a growing group of college basketball players to excel at tight end. Former UM hoops forward Jimmy Graham, now with the Seattle Seahawks, is among those who successfully made the transition, along with Antonio Gates and Marcus Pollard.
“I was studying the guys who used to play basketball,” said Swoope, now in his third season with the Colts. “From an athleticism standpoint, there’s a lot of similarities.”
Graham played a vital role in helping Swoope make the switch. The two worked out together on the UM campus the spring before Swoope was signed as an undrafted free agent. After his basketball eligibility expired, Graham played one season with the Hurricanes football team before becoming a Pro Bowler with the New Orleans Saints.
“He basically just told me that if you’re going to go down this road, it’s not an easy one,” Swoope said. “You need to know that is not going to be an easy journey.”
Swoope learned that from the beginning. He struggled with the simplest aspects of football. Colts offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, another former Hurricanes tight end, said Swoope had to be taught from scratch.
That included explaining nickel and dime packages.
“What your stance is, what is a three-point stance, what a two-point stance is, the very basics starting out,” Chudzinski said of the learning process. “I mentioned before that I spent some extra time with him every week going through and watching practice with him and talking to him, explaining those type of things to him. We spent some extra practice time afterwards out on the field and working through things.”
Swoope has so fallen in love with football that he has mostly abandoned basketball. He said he’s played his former sport maybe twice in the past three years.
“I don’t miss basketball, to put it plain and simple,” Swoope said. “I’ll watch from time to time. I like to support my old teammates or old friends from AAU, but football, I’ve really came to enjoy it.”