Two Brown Football Players Join Basketball Team
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
It hasn't been the easiest of falls for the Brown University men's basketball team. Co-captain Tucker Halpern has yet to play due to mono and the timing of his return is still unknown. Freshman Joe Sharkey has yet to play due to a groin injury and his return is also uncertain. Fellow freshman Rafael Maia was declared ineligible by the NCAA taking the team's starting center off the floor.
Now, head coach Jesse Agel is hoping that the addition of two Brown football players will bolster his team's roster. 6'-3" junior quarterback Patrick Donnelly and 6'-4" junior wide receiver Telef Lundevall will be in uniform when the Bears battle URI Wednesday night at the Pizzatola Sports Center.
Donnelly is slated to be the Bears' starting quarterback next fall replacing All-Ivy signal caller Kyle Newhall-Caballero. Along with being a talented football player, Donnelly was a 1,000 point scorer in high school and a two-time captain for his basketball team at Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLundevall is coming off a very strong junior season which saw him catch 51 passes for 516 yards and 4 touchdowns. Like Donnelly, he was a good basketball player in high school as well at Highland Park High School in Illinois where he was team captain, an All-Conference player and a 3-point state finalist. Both players attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
While it is unlikely that either player will play a significant role on the floor during games, they should add much needed depth to help the team in practice where they have been unable to go 5-on-5 at times.
A natural question would be, what does Brown football coach Phil Estes think about two of his players playing basketball? "I'm fine with it," he said. "Both have expressed an interest in doing this and they are both great athletes. If they were freshman I would be hesitant because I think that it would be too much of a work load for them to handle. I also wouldn't be too happy if it were a spring sport because that would interfere with our srping practice, but that's not the case."
Estes did say that he worries about all of his players keeping up academically and doing well in the classroom so that is a minor concern. He is also worried about the potential for injury. "Cetainly I worry about injuries but you can't really be consumed by that. Basketball will keep them in great shape and they'll be ready for spring practice with us," he said.
Estes, who is on the west coast recruiting, also received some good news Tuesday when three of his players received All-New England honors. Junior defensive back A.J. Cruz, senior safety Stephen Peyton and senior punter Nate Lovett were all named to the All-New England team.
