ASU LB Brandon Magee eyeing two-sport career

Talk about an embarrassment of riches for Brandon Magee: he’s coming back to Arizona State to play football for Coach Todd Graham, and he’s a member of one of the most storied franchises in all of baseball, the Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox made Magee the 721st selection in the 2012 MLB Draft, and on Thursday, Magee signed his major league contract with the team.

Magee grew up a Red Sox fan, so to actually be a part of the organization is a dream come true for him.

“I’m excited for the opportunity they [Red Sox] gave me, especially to continue my education here, graduate in December and also be a part of this great football team,” Magee said.

Magee wants to have his cake and eat it too: he wants to play both baseball and football at the professional level.

“They’re hand-in-hand, and that’s why I keep doing it,” Magee said. “I figure I’m so close now, why stop. Nobody’s taking that dream…nobody.”

Magee has a seemingly infinite supply of confidence in himself, and it shows.

Here’s a young man who wants to align himself with guys like Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson and Brian Jordan, who were all very successful two-sport athletes.

“If I couldn’t do it, God would’ve taken me out of the situation a long time ago,” Magee said. “He’s making it available for me to do, so I’m going to do whatever He says.”

Magee missed the entire 2011 season for Arizona State, after tearing his ACL in preseason camp. In 2010, Magee had a career high 73 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

With those type of numbers, Magee was all set for an explosion in 2011, before the injury took him out of action.

However, that setback didn’t set Magee back. He says the decision to come back for a fifth year wasn’t a difficult one at all.

“Even if I got drafted, I was like ‘I’m still coming back,’ especially with these new coaches,” Magee said.

Magee said, in his mind, the injury wasn’t as serious as everyone made it out to be, if anything, the injury made him even more focused on coming back and competing at a high level.

“I’m ready to come back and give these fans what they’ve asked for, which is a great season and show a great tradition of football,” Magee said.

Another thing which weighed heavily in Magee’s decision to return to Tempe, Ariz., is coach Graham and his program, which immediately caught Magee’s attention.

“Walk around these floors, they’re clean, they have more respect for the facilities,” Magee said. “Everybody here is excited for what’s coming up and [my] teammates are ready to rock and roll.”

There’s one thing Magee wants himself and the program to attain before he moves on to his baseball/football careers.

“Win it all, until somebody stops me,” Magee said.