Colts Waive Former Basketball Standout Demarco Cox

The Indianapolis Colts have waived former Georgia Tech collegiate basketball standout Demarco Cox. The former 6’8, 294 basketball center had been trying to make the successful conversion to an NFL offensive tackle while with the Colts this offseason.

Per the team’s official press release:

"“The Indianapolis Colts today waived tackle Demarco Cox.Cox, 6-8, 294 pounds, originally signed with the Colts as a free agent on March 19, 2015. He played four years of college basketball at Ole Miss (2010-14) before transferring to Georgia Tech (2014-15) for his final season of eligibility as a fifth-year graduate transfer. Last season, he averaged 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while adding a team-high 28 blocked shots with the Yellow Jackets.”"

Signed on March 19th by the Colts, Cox was originally heavily recruited as a high school football offensive tackle, coming out of Yazoo City High School in addition to basketball:

"The two-sport star was also heavily recruited in football and was rated the No. 54 offensive tackle in the nation by ESPN.com and No. 58 offensive tackle by Scout.com."

However, it appears that there was simply too big of a learning curve for Cox, as he only lasted 9 weeks with his new team. Still, the Colts are no strangers to successful basketball conversion stories, as one of their offensive lineman in Joe Reitz was a former collegiate basketball star. Not to mention, former Miami Hurricane basketball standout Erik Swoope is attempting to become an NFL caliber tight end, having spent last season on the Colts practice squad and participating in this year’s OTA’s.

Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson has always left no stone unturned, when it comes to finding potential talent and diamonds in the rough for his team. While the signing of Cox appears to not have worked out initially as planned, it was still worth a gamble, as it didn’t cost the Colts much of anything at all.

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