Ishmail Wainright spent the last four years of his life putting in work on the hardwood for the Baylor basketball team. He had a solid senior season averaging 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals as the lone senior on the Bears’ roster. Baylor fans know Ish for his elite perimeter defense and enthusiastic bench celebrations, but you probably know him as the guy who Wayne Selden almost killed during the 2016 Big 12 Tournament.
Seeing Wainright survive a hit like that must have caught the attention of new head football coach Matt Rhule.
Following the conclusion of his basketball career last month, Ish decided to follow in the footsteps of his former teammate Rico Gathers and take his talents to the gridiron. Like Gathers, Wainright will play tight end. He got his first live action in Baylor’s spring game on Saturday and hauled in a 23-yard back-shoulder touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer in the third quarter.
I have a few takeaways from this play.
- I appreciate that Ish was the only player on the team that doesn’t have a name on the back of his jersey. They’re essentially treating him the way MLB teams treat Single-A prospects during spring training.
- Ish’s body is what you would create if you were designing a prototypical tight end in a lab. He’s 6’5″ with a 7’1.5″ wingspan which will make him a nightmare to cover one-on-one.
- Baylor’s secondary is still atrocious. *drinks*
