Adam Coon’s dreams of competing in the Tokyo Olympics are over, but his athletic career is not.
The former standout on Michigan’s wrestling team is looking to carve out a career in the NFL, despite not having played football since he starred for Fowlerville High School in 2012. Nevertheless, the Tennessee Titans are giving him a shot to make the team as an offensive lineman, signing him to a contract earlier this month.
“Wrestlers, especially at that elite level, have unbelievable balance, core strength, things that I think would translate well to an offensive lineman,” Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said last week.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Coon was a three-time All-American and two-time NCAA finalist at Michigan from 2014-16 and 2018 and was aiming to qualify for next month’s Olympics. After missing the cut, he has put on the football pads on for the first time in roughly nine years and was on the field during minicamp last week.
Coon, who was 116-15 at Michigan, might be a longshot to make Tennessee’s 53-man roster, but a leap to the wrestling mat to the NFL has been done before.
Stephen Neal was a four-time All-American at Cal State Bakersfield before going on to an eight-year career with the New England Patriots. He played in 86 games (81 starts) at guard and won three Super Bowls. He also was teammates with Vrabel.
“Just wanted to try to take a look at Adam,” Vrabel said. “I followed his wrestling career for a while. Something we looked at and, again, I was a part of as a player taking a former wrestler and they developed into an offensive lineman with Stephen Neal.”
At Fowlerville, Coon was an all-state linebacker in 2012 and two-time honorable mention offensive lineman.
“Having not played the game, there’s a lot development that has to go on pretty quickly for him to compete,” Vrabel said. “But he’s got a great attitude. He shows up, he competes, he goes hard, and he just might not know what to do all the time. I think we just have to continue to coach him and develop him and see what we can get out of him, and how he develops.”