Big name basketball schools like Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Kansas State, had fought over basketball player Ray Shipman when he was graduating Monsignor Edward Pace High School in South Florida. Now, he’s leaving the University of Florida basketball team to play football at UCF.
The sophomore has already committed to UCF and told UCFsports.com, “I’m going to be playing safety for the football team. It’s something I’ve been thinking about ever since I stopped playing football after my freshman year of high school.”
Althought unexpected, athletes have switched from sports the excelled at to pursue a sport had a stronger passion for at the time. Michael Jordan left basketball in the early 90’s to play baseball for a minor league team.
Ray Shipman was reportedly a four-star prospect coming out of Pace in South Florida and was named Mr. Florida Basketball in 2008. According to a Gatorzone.com article back when Shipman was a recruit, he had a 4.7 weighted GPA in high school.
At UF, Shipman averaged 2.7 points a game and had 26 steals in 32 games, according to the Gators Men’s basketball website.
Shipman will have to sit out one year according to NCAA transfer rules before playing his first football game as a UCF Knight.
