Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

PSU forward Ross Travis declares for NFL Draft

04/14/2015, 10:00pm EDT

By Anna Pitingolo

Anna Pitingolo (@anna_pitingolo)
--

In an unexpected move, Ross Travis has hung up his basketball shoes and traded them in for football cleats.

Travis, who just finished up his senior season at Penn State, saw action in all 34 games this year, averaging 5.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. He has led the team in rebounds for the past three seasons, and currently sits at number three in career rebounds with 816.

And while the news may come as a surprise to many, Travis is ready to put basketball behind him, and follow in the steps of many before him and make the switch from hardwood to turf.

This major transition isn’t a decision that happened overnight. In fact, this has been in the back of Travis’ mind ever since he quit football his freshman year of high school.

“My high school team wasn’t all that great, so I decided to take the basketball route and that definitely worked out, but it’s always been something in the back of my mind. I’ve always thought about it,” Travis said. “So when the opportunity came, I definitely wanted to take it.”

That opportunity came when someone got into contact with Travis and his agent after the basketball season had concluded this past March.

“After the season, somebody had contacted me and asked if I wanted to get into a Pro Day...whether that be here or at another school or just anywhere and I gave it some thought,” the Chaska, Minn. native said. “I always thought about playing football again and I just thought it was a cool opportunity that I definitely had to take.”

When Travis made the decision to pursue a career in the NFL, it didn’t come as much of a shock to his parents. Everyone was always commenting on his size, and how he had the perfect body type for an NFL player. With his athletic ability and the chances of that translating over positively to the NFL, Travis said his parents have been happy and supportive of his choice.

Standing at 6-foot-7, 235 pounds, Travis is about the size of a typical NFL tight end. Travis hopes that that raw athletic ability that he possesses will help him in the NFL, like it has for those who have made the switch from basketball to football before him. Current NFLers Jimmy Graham, Antonio Gates and Julius Thomas all made the same transition that Travis is making, and those are exactly the guys he is trying to emulate as he begins his journey.

“[Those] are all guys that played basketball at some point in their career,” Travis said. “And if you read about them, a lot of us have the same [basketball] stat line. We weren’t all great scorers but we were all terrific rebounders. And we didn’t mind shaking our noses at things and getting dirty on the court and we didn’t mind the physicality. And I think that’s the part of me that’s going to transition over there the best.”

Playing basketball has contributed to Travis staying in shape since he last put on a helmet and pads. But as he prepares to make that transition back to football, there are certain aspects of each sport that differ from each other.

Despite the difference, Travis has already performed well at multiple workouts, with “19-20” scouts at one of them, according to a source, who also added that Travis ran an impressive 4.6 second 40-yard dash.

“I wouldn’t call it [being in] football shape. We just finished the season not too long ago so I’m definitely in shape. The biggest difference is that I’ve noticed coming into this is the techniques and different style of lifting between football and basketball,” Travis said. “Football is more power lifting, everything’s about speed, whereas in basketball, I hate to use the word, but it’s more finesse. You may only go five yards on a basketball court and turn around and have to go back on defense versus football where you’re going straight for 20, 40, 60 as many yards as you can going full speed.”

In the weeks leading up to the draft, Travis says he will be working out with more teams on top of the ones he has already worked out for. While he couldn’t disclose who those teams were, he did say that the he has “met with multiple teams and the interest is there.”

His main focus leading up to the draft will be putting on weight. His goal is to get up to 240.

“I definitely have some weight to put on. I’ll end up being the solid 235-240 range by the time everything starts. Closer to the draft that’s my target goal right now, or to exceed that.”

Now that his decision to switch sports has become public, all eyes will be on Travis as he continues his preparation for the draft in the coming weeks. The journey to whether or not he becomes the next Jimmy Graham will officially begin when the 2015 NFL Draft starts on Thursday, April 30 in Chicago, Ill.