Indiana's Randle El has double vision

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Antwaan Randle El says he wants to be just like Coach, he's not being a big brownnoser.

He really means it.

Just as Indiana football coach Cam Cameron did for the Hoosiers in the early '80s, Randle El plans on playing quarterback in the fall and guard for Bob Knight in the wintertime.

Only better.

"Like Charlie Ward did at Florida State," Randle El said. "He won the Heisman, and ended up playing in the NBA. I'm looking forward to having a choice like that some year later on in life."

The News-Gazette's 1997 Football Player of the Year has yet to take his first college snap – or jump shot – but his big plans are the buzz of Bloomington.

The last Chicago guy to double-dip at Indiana panned out pretty good. Some Quinn Buckner fellow.

"I don't think there's any question Antwaan can do both," Cameron said. "There's no doubt in my mind he's a football player. And in Coach Knight's mind, there's also no doubt he's a good enough basketball player."

He was also a good enough baseball player to be drafted by the Cubs as a high school senior. But two sports is a heavy enough load for now.

If he needs advice on how to balance the heavy load, Randle El has all sorts of places to turn. He can get on the horn with one of his ex-Thornton teammates: Napolean Harris, who put on a Northwestern basketball jersey when football season was over last year, and Tai Streets, who did the same thing at Michigan in 1996.

And there's always Cameron, who at 37 still remembers what it was like to have his nose stuck in a book when his buddies were out partying.

"We've got to make sure he understands you're going to have to sacrifice some of your social life, you're going to have to sacrifice some of your free time," Cameron said. "You're really dealing with three things: football, basketball and academics. Those have got to be priorities over everything else."

Randle El doesn't need to search long to find success stories. Ward and Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson both did the football-basketball thing at Florida State. Raiders tight end Ricky Dudley did it at Ohio State. Ex-Bull Rusty Larue did it at Wake Forest.

"If you have a youngster that's very disciplined in their time management, you can certainly do it," former Florida State basketball coach Pat Kennedy said. "But I think the most important thing is the cooperation between the two coaches. That's really key."

Knight probably won't run into the problems that Pat Kennedy encountered at Florida State, where the football team's always playing on New Year's.

Barring a minor miracle, Indiana's football season will end Nov. 21 at Purdue. Basketball season starts Nov. 7.

"The day after the season's over, he goes right to basketball practice," Cameron said. "We're hoping there will be a point in time where Coach Knight's not going to get this guy until sometime in January."

Randle El's on football scholarship, and in a football mode. The Hoosiers open the season Saturday at home against Western Michigan, and Randle El's to get the call at quarterback.

He was the king of spring practice – throwing a touchdown pass and running in three in the Red-White Game – and has been battling former Champaign resident Jay Rodgers for the job ever since.

"I can do a lot of things," Randle El said. "Whatever they ask me to do, I can do it. Not saying that Jay can't."

If he doesn't get the job now, Randle El won't sulk. Carrying a clipboard beats what he went through last year as an OK-to-practice, but ineligible-to-play partial qualifier.

He was forced to watch the Hoosiers' 1-10 debacle from the bleachers.

"That was the worst thing that ever happened to me, having to sit and watch everybody else play," Randle El said. "There were times I didn't even stay at the games. I'd go home, just to get away from it because I wanted to play so bad."

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