When you watch a UB men's basketball practice, you may not notice anything different about Dominic Johnson.
But there is something a little different about him. Johnson is brand new to the UB men's basketball team and is back on the floor after taking some time off.
"I haven't played basketball for two years before this so I'm just trying to get back into it," Johnson said.
Why hasn't he played recently?
Johnson spent his time focusing on football and spent this Fall as a redshirt freshman quarterback for the UB football team.
When the football season came to an official end a week ago, he figured his first year of playing college sports was done.
That was until UB men's basketball coach Nate Oats came calling.
"He (Coach Oats) said I was the first person he thought of and he needed some help so we went from there," said Johnson.
Johnson was familiar with Coach Oats. In fact he was recruited by him when he played basketball in high school but chose to play football at the collegiate level instead.
With the approval of UB football coach Lance Liepold, Johnson is getting the best of both worlds and is bringing some new blood to a basketball team that has high hopes this season.
"For a guy that's only been here for like three of four days, we couldn't be happier to have him here.," said associate head coach Jim Whitesell. "He's been a great addition in the short period of time he's been here."
Johnson officially joined the team on Friday, December 8th and just 24 hours later, scored his first points of the season.
It was a pretty bittersweet moment for a guy getting used to being a two sport athlete all over again.
Coach Whitesell said, "He'll have to get his legs and his basketball lungs but I don't think he'll have any problem picking it up."
Because Johnson is all about embracing this new opportunity.
The question now? Will he be a permanent two-sport Division-I athlete?
"I'm sort of just going with the wind right now and letting it blow me wherever it goes," Johnson explained. "If I end up playing both, if I end up playing one or the other, I'm just gonna try to work hard and see where it gets me."
