Lebron to play football during lockout?

LeBron James dons football pads, works out at prep practice

By Cameron Smith

It seems like whenever you turn around, another NBA superstar is headed to another far flung land to play out the remainder of the league's lockout. Not LeBron James. He's staying stateside, though he is keeping in shape. How, you ask? By showing up at football practice at his alma mater, Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary High.

As first reported by Fox8.com, James made an appearance at SVSM football practice on Tuesday, donning full pads and a helmet and participating in the Irish's full practice regimen. The Miami Heat star showed up unannounced to the high school team -- which is undefeated and ranked as high as No. 3 in the state in its classification -- but reportedly fit in seamlessly as he ran through passing drills for an hour with the full varsity squad.

In fact, the lone player missing was the one who donated his helmet, pads and number 13 jersey to James for the day; 6-foot-5 Clayton Uecker, who is the tallest player on the SVSM roster and who was missing from practice because of an injury.

According to Fox8.com, the only caveat to James' participation in the team's training session -- his blue football pants notwithstanding (everyone else wore green) -- was that defensive backs were not allowed to tackle the basketball star. They could make contact with the forward at the line of scrimmage, but once he went up for a ball, King James was off limits.

As to questions about how he would perform back on a football field -- remember, James starred in football in high school, to the point that State Farm once commissioned the commercial you see below raising the prospect of James suiting up for the Cleveland Browns -- the high school players he was on the field with said he more than held his own.




"He caught everything, he didn't drop a pass," St. Vincent-St. Mary quarterback Kevin Besser told Fox8.com. "I probably threw six or seven passes his way and he went up and got everything.
"I not gonna lie, it was pretty cool to see him out there."


After he was done, James even went so far as to stoke the flames of those who have long said he could star in the NFL as a tight end. Just check out this tweet he posted on his Twitter account within hours of leaving the SVSM campus in Akron.

Just got done practicing with the St.V Varsity football team, full pads and all.. Felt great being back on the field. Should I?

Hey, maybe he should. After all, it's not like he has anything better to do stateside at the moment, right?