That pipeline may not potentially stretch through to Hamden, Connecticut, in the near future, but it’s not impossible.
In a throwaway line said on a February 20, 2024 MAAC Insider podcast, Quinnipiac men’s basketball head coach Tom Pecora mentioned how NFL teams had started to hit his phone up.
“I’ve been reached out to by three or four friends in the NFL over the years,” Pecora said to interviewer John Fanta. “This year, they’ve all gotten back to me about, ‘is he capable of being a tight end?’”
The player in question? Graduate student forward Paul Otieno.
“I'm friends with (former NFL most valuable player) Boomer Esiason (and) he's friends with the general manager of the (Indianapolis) Colts, Chris Ballard,” Pecora said. “Boomer would have him call me once in a while, and just have me throw names by him.”
Pecora did want to make sure those original comments were said tongue in cheek, but it’s been something that Esiason and Ballard have done for years.
But does Otieno—who was raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and was surrounded by rugby, not football, growing up—even want to pursue a career on the gridiron?
“I don’t really know much about football,” Otieno said. “I’ve been way better now, watching tight ends play.”
The mild-mannered Otieno announced his return for a third season at Quinnipiac on April 5 of last year, and the second team all-MAAC player is already playing at an all-conference level. He leads the MAAC in double-doubles (10) and just scored a career-high 28 points in Saturday’s loss to Niagara.
“The redemption season is coming up for us,” Otieno said before the season. “This year, we want to go all the way to the top.”
The Colts were the ones to make some form of contact with the Pecora, but finding under-the-radar talent is something every NFL team does during the league offseason.
“We scout everybody,” New England Patriots director of pro scouting Camren Williams wrote. “(We) leave no stone unturned.”
NFL interest in college basketball stars has been a recurring theme. NC State forward DJ Burns used his March Madness platform to showcase his physical prowess last postseason, and the MAAC is no stranger to cultivating football talent on the hardwood either. Former Canisius forward Chris Manhertz has carved out a nine-year NFL career for five different teams since donning a Griffs jersey, most recently as a member of the New York Giants. While Otieno has yet to get to the level Burns reached at NC State, he has still brought a powerful demeanor to the court.
“Paul’s a beast and whenever he's dominating, it affects us all,” graduate student guard Savion Lewis said on March 13. “It's very contagious throughout the whole entire team. So whenever Paul kills (it), we're all happy.”
Having NFL-caliber talent on the basketball court isn’t a new concept for Pecora. During his head coaching stints at Hofstra and Fordham, he played against future football stars.
“My first game as the head coach at Hofstra, we played against Antonio Gates, who went on to become a Hall of Fame tight end,” Pecora said. “And then (Mo-Alie Cox) from VCU, who’s a tight end for the Colts now. Paul is in that realm. I would imagine there (would be) a transition period. I have no idea, I coached junior high football 40 years ago.”
It may be a bit too early to start pre-ordering Otieno jerseys from the NFL Shop, but come April, Pecora says anything is up in the air.
“You just never know if there’s an opportunity to go have a great career,” Pecora said. “Who knows? Hopefully he rebounds like a football player this year.”
For Otieno, this year has just about basketball.
“Basketball now, football later,” he said with a laugh.
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