UAlbany Football’s New Secret Weapon?

Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham and....Greig Stire?

Aside from the first three players listed being Pro Bowlers (two of whom are Hall of Famers), all four might have something in common soon and that would be basketball players turned tight ends. On Tuesday afternoon, much to the surprise of every media member on the sideline, UAlbany senior Greig Stire, who just completed his college basketball career, was in a helmet and jersey catching passes as a tight end.

That was the first day of spring practice for the Great Danes and even head coach Greg Gattuso was quick to admit he had watched Stire as a power forward and thought he would make for an interesting project at tight end. Think about it: Stire is big, strong and can jump. Surprising hops some might say. He played football at CBA and with a possible grad year at UAlbany, Stire thought "why not?"

Stire hasn't been made available to the media so we'll see how far this goes, but Gattuso's early comments (that's all they could be at this point is early) are positive for someone trying pick up a sport he left four years ago.