Football: Which sport is best for Austin McBroom?

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Here’s the question of the fall: Is Austin McBroom of North Hollywood Campbell Hall a basketball player playing football or a football player who excels in basketball?

McBroom ranked as one of the best point guards in the San Fernando Valley last season as a sophomore. He declined to play football his first two years. Then Terry Kelly left as basketball coach, opening the door for football Coach Russell Gordon to do a little lobbying, and it worked.

McBroom has scored 15 touchdowns this season in a variety of roles, whether returning punts or kickoffs, catching passes or running the ball.

He has shown what people already knew, that he was a terrific athlete. But I still think basketball is the sport in which he can compete at the highest level, and baseball too. He was a standout infielder as a freshman but didn’t play last season.

It’s good, though, that he has had the chance to try football. It gives him more options, and when high school is over, he won’t have to look back and wonder what could have been. But soon, he’s going to have to pick a sport, and that’s going to be tough. It will be up to the college recruiters or pro baseball scouts to help him make the right decision.

-- Eric Sondheimer