“Is he actually coming?”
A Sherman Oaks Notre Dame football player had heard the rumors of a new student joining the football team on Monday at practice.
Sure enough, 6-foot-8 Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 high school basketball player in the country from the class of 2026, showed up wearing practice jersey No. 67. He’ll need 10 days of practices before he can play in a football game, but coach Evan Yabu was excited to have him.
He’s supposed to play receiver and Yabu observed, “We don’t have anyone 6-8, 245 pounds.”
Notre Dame’s Tyran Stokes celebrates after a slam dunk in the closing seconds of a 68-61 victory at Harvard-Westlake last season. ( Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Stokes could use a break from basketball after a busy offseason of traveling and games. Notre Dame basketball coach Matt Sargeant is fine with Stokes trying football. He has three other players on the football team.
Advertisement
USC basketball coach Eric Musselman looked like a genius when he went out to the football field to watch Stokes. He had come to Notre Dame to watch basketball practice, then heard about Stokes missing basketball practice.
Basketball player Zach White said of Stokes trying football, “He’ll do great if he puts his mind to it.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
