Jasen Lopez’s two-sport career has begun, at least in practice on the basketball court, at Florida State.
Lopez enrolled early to begin classes at FSU on Wednesday and has been part of freshmen orientation with football teammates. He also participated in basketball practice on Thursday for the first time with the Seminoles.
“He just finished up his football season, lost in the state championship. Less than a few weeks later, he's practicing with an ACC team,” FSU coach Luke Loucks told the Osceola. “We threw him out there today. He looked a little rusty, but he also brought what we expect — a level of toughness, level of maturity all while he's trying to figure everything out.
“He knows none of our terminology. He knows none of the playbook. So obviously there's going to be some growing pains as he joins our team.”
Lopez signed with the FSU football team on Dec. 3 and moved up to Tallahassee to begin classes. Undersized at just under 6-foot and between 165-180 pounds, Lopez was one of the biggest signings for the football and basketball programs.
In basketball, Lopez averaged 24.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 3.6 assists over 96 career games. And on the football field, he had four straight 1,000-yard seasons and had 59 career touchdowns at Hollywood (Florida) Chaminade-Madonna.
Lopez will be on the bench, but will not play, when FSU hosts North Carolina State on Saturday at noon (ACC Network). Whether he plays this basketball season remains to be seen. Even if he plays one minute of one game on the court, he would not be able to redshirt. It’s a different story with a four-game redshirt rule in football.
Including the NC State matchup, FSU has 16 games left. Lopez won’t be ready in the short term, but coaches will evaluate his acclimation to college basketball and understanding of the playbook in practice.
“It's going to depend a lot on how he looks and how he adjusts and how quickly he can get into shape,” Loucks said. “And if the risk is worth the reward of him playing vs. him burning a year, certainly we never want to put him in a spot, health-wise, where he's going to be at risk of injuring himself. And then on top of that, we want to make sure if we're going to use a year that he's going to be able to impact winning for us.”
Loucks described Lopez as a good playmaker and a “true point guard” who is a very good shooter and has strong leadership skills. Where Lopez will have to adjust, Loucks thinks, is how to drive the lane and finish against bigger bodies at the college level.
“I don't want to compare him to Charlie Ward, but there is some play-making-wise and just leadership-wise, what Charlie did is he would come over from football and he would just lead the team,” Loucks said. “And obviously that's a lot to throw out there as a comparison, but he does have those qualities of leadership, of being a lead guard, of being vocal, of holding his teammates accountable, being tough defensively.”
Thanks for reading the Osceola. Subscribe now for less than $60 annually to enjoy a full year of coverage of FSU athletics. You’ll also earn a $15 gift card at the Osceola’s merch store.
