Despite going undrafted through the seven rounds of the NFL Draft, former Wolverine basketball star Erik Swoope ’10 will get his opportunity to play on an NFL team after signing with the Indianapolis Colts Sunday. 

In his senior year at Harvard-Westlake, Swoope averaged 21.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game and was named to the California All-State Basketball Second Team. Swoope went on to play four years at University of Miami where he started his last ten games as a Hurricane and averaged 5.0 points per game and 2.7 rebounds. 

Swoope is following the path of basketball turned football stars Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham. Gates has had a Hall-of-Fame-worthy football career after playing just basketball in college, while Graham has become one of the football’s most dangerous tight ends after focusing primarily on basketball prior to his career in the NFL. Swoope’s story is a near mirror image of Graham’s, who also played basketball at Miami.

“It was mainly just the opportunity that pushed me towards the NFL, and it really came out of nowhere,” Swoope said. “At first I wasn’t really sure if it was legitimate or if it was just a joke. I was able to exchange numbers with the scout that was interested in me and found out that this wasn’t a laughing matter, so I ran a workout and things were very positive so I figured I should pursue the opportunity.”