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Duce Robinson (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)
Popularized by the likes of Reggie Jackson, Deion Sander, Bo Jackson and others, a two-sport college career can generate significant acclaim.
In the NIL era with athletes being paid to play, it could be an incredibly lucrative situation, too.
The reality, though, is that the path to two-sport stardom has become increasingly difficult—and less common—to travel.
Restrictions generated by the current rules that govern college athletics are largely to blame. Florida State’s Duce Robinson, a top 200 MLB draft prospect in 2023, is a prime example of those difficulties.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound wideout initially signed with USC to play football and baseball. He caught 38 passes for 747 yards and seven touchdowns across two seasons with the Trojans while contributing sparingly on the diamond, where he appeared in four games and hit a double in six at-bats.
Robinson told Baseball America that had he remained in Southern California, he more than likely would have participated in baseball again.
However, that wasn’t the plan.
Robinson put his name in the transfer portal in December and immediately became one of its most coveted football prospects, ranking No. 7 overall and No. 3 among receivers, according to 247Sports.
But there was an issue: Robinson’s decision to transfer in the winter made him ineligible to participate in the baseball season, forcing him to take a baseball redshirt ahead of his junior football season.
Robinson told Baseball America that his baseball future was still up in the air this month. A quick evaluation of his circumstances, though, makes it seem rather unlikely that the former early-round hopeful returns to the sport.
Robinson will be NFL draft-eligible following the 2025 college season. With a big year, he’s almost certain to cash in.
“We are still figuring it all out right now,” Robinson said of his two-sport future.
Robinson is hardly the only one, either.
Austin Simmons, the favorite to earn Ole Miss’s starting quarterback job in 2025 following the departure of incumbent Jaxson Dart, decided to focus on football full-time despite a very successful showing as a true freshman southpaw reliever in 2024 when he appeared in 13 games and pitched to a 3.21 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 14 innings.
Simmons suffered a UCL sprain on April 25, 2024, which is…