Former LSU basketball player Brian Bridgewater invited to Tampa Bay rookie minicamp
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Antonio Gates begin his NFL career 15 years ago. Despite his unusual journey to becoming one of the greatest tight ends in professional football history, he never played football in college but was instead a standout basketball star, NFL teams haven’t stopped looking to go that route to find the next diamond in the rough at the tight end position.
Enter Brian Bridgewater. The former forward on LSU’s basketball team will be given an opportunity to earn a spot on Tampa Bay’s offseason roster this weekend as he’s been invited to rookie minicamp with the Bucs.
He has the size to play the position, 6-foot-5, 257-pounds and interestingly enough, he does have some history playing football — albeit in high school. According to Travis Bourgeois, his high school coach at Baton Rouge Episcopal, Bridgewater was on Alabama’s radar at one point.
“I’d never had Alabama on my campus for an athlete, and Alabama was on campus, and they loved him,” Bourgeois said according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. “The assistant said, ‘If get him to camp, Coach Saban’s going to love him.’ He just had a football body to him, and they talked about how he’d be a nightmare for a defensive coordinator.”
Of course, Bridgewater ultimately decided to stick with basketball but given his limited options at an NBA career, he’ll now attempt to follow the path to the NFL created by Gates back in 2003.
Congratulations to Brian Bridgewater on getting an invitation to the @Buccaneers’ rookie mini camp! #NFLSU #BootUp pic.twitter.com/QLLGkwDYbo
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) April 30, 2018
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
