"Would've been the first Michael Vick" - When Allen Iverson's HS football had NFL scouts in awe
Former NBA star guard Allen Iverson played 14 seasons in the NBA and is one of the best players in the history of the game. He won the league MVP in 2001, made 11 All-Stars, won Rookie of the Year in 1997 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.
In high school, Iverson was a dual-sport athlete, as he excelled in both football and basketball. He won High School Player of the Year in both sports while also winning the Division 5 AAA in both sports.
Before his senior year ended, Iverson had the tough task of sticking with one sport. He ultimately chose basketball. However, if he stuck with football, some think that he could have been Michael Vick before Michael Vick. Former North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato told Vice Sports in an interview in 2016 that Iverson would have been the first Michael Vick, had he stayed with football:
"He was just a great athlete and a competitor. He would’ve been the first Michael Vick.”
Iverson spoke on former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe's podcast, “Club Shay Shay,” in August 2021, and told Sharpe that he would have been a better NFL player than an NBA player if he played the sport professionally:
“Not being cocky, not being arrogant, I think, no, I know that I would have been a better player playing football than I was in basketball. And that’s not disrespecting basketball guys, that’s not disrespecting the game that’s done so much for me. I mean I’m a household name, I’m a Hall of Famer in that sport, but football was my first love.”
'He Would've Been the First Michael Vick': Allen Iverson Believes His Athleticism Would Have Translated to Star Power In the NFL Just as It Did In the NBA - Atlanta Black Star dlvr.it/S6br2j
How Allen Iverson became one of the best guards in NBA history
If what Allen Iverson is claiming is true, it would have been scary how good of an NFL quarterback he would have been.
Iverson won Rookie of the Year in 1997 averaging 23.5 points per game and 7.5 assists per game. He made 11 straight All-Star appearances from 2000-2010. He had his Numer 3 retired by the Philadelphia 76ers, was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team and averaged 26.7 points per game in his career.
While there's no answer to how that would have translated to an NFL career, if Iverson had played football, he could have probably become a Hall of Fame quarterback who could have changed the game much earlier with his play style.
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