There's nothing like a swift career change to get the juices flowing.
On March 7, Carson Towt was clearing the boards for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball squad. Ten days later, the 6-foot-7 forward signed a contract as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts to convert to tight end.
Towt said Tuesday after making the surprising, abrupt career shift, that he'd never played football at the high school or college level, but believes his physical style matches up better with pigskin than roundball.
"Just an awareness of my physical gifts that were showcased on the basketball floor," Towt said . "I think this sport honors those gifts, and the things that got me to Notre Dame and carried me through my career, and the things I pride myself on, I think this sport honors those things...I pride myself on dirty work and rebounding and being physical. So I think football almost honors those a little bit better than basketball does."
Given that Towt just finished his college career, you might be wondering why he isn't in the 2026 NFL Draft. The 24-year-old's elongated college career is the reason he isn't eligible for the draft. Towt redshirted his first season at Northern Arizona (2019-2020), then, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an injury that wiped out his entire 2023-2024 season, earned additional years of eligibility to play college basketball.
Under NFL rules, players are draft-eligible le only in the year after their college football eligibility runs out. Towt spent that draft-eligible season at Notre Dame. He said he'd considered playing college football and basketball in 2025, but eligibility standards meant he had only an additional year of basketball left after his run at Northern Arizona.
Towt, who turns 25 this summer, attended the NFL Scouting Combine three weeks ago to meet with teams (not work out). He said he's been considering a sport change since the basketball season began, after not playing football growing up.
"In high school, I was real small, I hit growth spurts too late," Towt said. "I didn't have armpit hair until late in high school, so I was kind of a late bloomer. I never gave it too much thought and attention until my freshman year in college, when I started bulking up."
Towt met with the Colts and also spoke with Indy veteran tight end Mo Alie-Cox, who also made the transition from the hardwood to the gridiron back in 2017. Playing alongside someone who made this journey could help Towt immensely.
Changing careers at this stage is no simple task. We've seen professionals from the highest level of rugby wash out. The success stories of players going from basketball to tight end are famous -- Antonio Gates, Jimmy Graham-- but just as many don't work out. Heck, it's hard enough to change positions within the sport itself at the NFL level, let alone carve out a career from raw stone. Yet, it's an admirable endeavor for Towt to take head on.
"It's been quite the journey so far," he said. "And man, it's just getting started."
