Top Basketball Recruit Sage Surratt To Focus On Football
Sage Surratt is leaving the hardwood behind. The star basketball player is focusing on his football future at Wake Forest.
Sage Surratt is leaving the hardwood behind. The star basketball player is focusing on his football future at Wake Forest.
Sage Surratt had one heck of a 2016-17 high school basketball season.
The Lincolnton (N.C.) star averaged 34.7 points per game during his senior year and finished as the No. 2 scorer in state history with 2,951 career points. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound shooting guard can score effectively on all three levels on the court, and he made headlines throughout the course of the year because of his high-output efforts. He logged seven 40-point-plus games and three 50-point-plus contests, and he broke his own single-game scoring record with 57 points on Jan. 27.
One would assume that Surratt has a bright future on the hardwood. Except, he doesn’t have one.
“I’m done playing basketball,” Surratt recently told USA Today Sports. “I’m concentrating on football. I don’t have any plans right now to play basketball. I’m just focusing mentally on everything I have to do to be the best football player I can be.”
While it may raise eyebrows that he is giving up hoops, Surratt has the luxury of being one of the top football players in North Carolina. He is the state’s career record holder in receptions (366), yards (5,926) and touchdown receptions (80). This past season, he was voted the state’s AP Offensive Player of the Year after catching 129 passes for 2,104 yards (both state records) and scoring 28 touchdowns.
“I feel like football just comes so natural to me,” he said. “My dad played in college, my brother is a freshman quarterback at North Carolina; we just have it in our blood. I love it. I want to give myself the best chance to play in the NFL. That’s my dream.”
This past National Signing Day, Surratt signed with Wake Forest to play wide receiver for Dave Clawson and his staff.
“[Wake] is really close to home so it was the perfect fit for me,” he said. “I’m excited to get there and compete. Not playing basketball will probably take some getting used to, but, like I said, I’m putting everything into football.”
Surratt said that unless he hears from Demon Deacons head basketball coach Danny Manning or a member of his staff, the focus will remain on making life difficult for defensive backs on Saturdays.
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