Everything about Ahmad Hudson, the country’s top tight end prospect, screams beast. Measuring in at just under 6-foot-7 in his bare feet, he’s 235 pounds of muscle and explosiveness complete with a nearly 40-inch max vertical leap. The crazy thing about the senior from Ruston (La.) High who committed to LSU in May? He’s actually ranked higher in basketball.
Earlier this week, 247Sports’ basketball rankings updated for the class of 2027 and Hudson climbed to No. 17 overall as a power forward prospect in hoops. That slots him exactly one spot ahead of his current No. 18 ranking on the gridiron.
In fact, when it comes to being ranked this highly in both basketball and football this deep into a high school career, Hudson is unlike anybody we have seen in quite some time and on the verge of pulling off the rare double by becoming a High School All-American in both sports.
Like any athlete, Hudson feels like he should be ranked higher in both sports. And he may have a point when he says that he feels how good he is in one sport impacts how he is ranked in another. He’s heard the whispers that he can’t possibly play both in college and that surely he’ll drop hoops for football or vice versa.
Equally humble and confident in his ability without being cocky, he chooses to focus on what he knows and letting his work show.
“I just feel that I need to keep competing because I haven’t really done anything yet,” Hudson told 247Sports. “I still have work to do and I can’t be complacent.
“I see myself as one of the best dual-sport athletes ever if you look at the accolades. I know everything isn’t based on accolades, but I’ve worked hard to deserve what I have.”
The elite dual-sport athlete isn’t anything new. In the era of specialization, however, it has become a bit of a dying breed — at least at the highest of levels.
History is littered with players who were incredible at two or more sports. We’ve seen basketball/football combos, baseball/football, track/football stars who are elite. You have legends like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders who played in the NFL and MLB. Who hasn’t seen the highlights of Allen Iverson or LeBron James as high school gridiron freaks? Randy Moss could really play some roundball in his time. Julius Peppers and Tony Gonzalez both hooped in college before playing in the NFL.
Charlie Ward played both basketball and football at Florida State, won a Heisman Trophy and played 11 NBA seasons. Greg Paulus was a McDonald’s All American who played point guard at Duke before starting for a year as Syracuse‘s quarterback. Jalen Suggs had high-major offers as a quarterback but was never really ranked as a football player because the NBA was going to be his destination. His current Magic teammate, Paolo Banchero, was a promising quarterback as well. Terrelle Pryor was a top 50 basketball player and the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the class of 2008 before heading to Ohio State.
In one of the wildest stories ever, Martellus Bennett declared for the 2005 NBA Draft before going to Texas A&M and eventually playing 10 NFL seasons.
The point is that through the years, there has been no shortage of dual-sport freaks. But, if we are talking about players who have still been highly ranked in both basketball and football this deep into their high school careers, Hudson may have the highest profile in both since Ronald Curry. A member of the 1998 class, Curry won state titles in both sports at Hampton (Va.) High, was a McDonald’s All American in basketball and the National Player of the Year in football before going to North Carolina. At UNC, he played both sports for a few years before focusing on football where he went on to play seven years in the NFL.
Bottom line, Hudson is in the most elite of company.
“I put myself in a different category because there is so much that I can do,” Hudson said. “Most of the time you see dual-sport athletes who will be a point guard in basketball and a quarterback or a wide receiver and a small forward. On the football side, I can play on the offensive line and I can split out wide. Then, on the basketball court I can guard 1 through 5, so I’m a bit different than everybody else and I have a whole lot of athleticism and can compare to what I’ve seen from guys like Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez and all of them.”
