WVU Basketball’s Deuce McBride Makes Surprise Appearance at Football Spring Game

Aside from his basketball prowess, West Virginia point guard Miles “Deuce” McBride was also once a top football prospect when he played quarterback at Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati.

His future in football took a hit when he suffered a major foot injury as a junior and he eventually ended up committing to play basketball for WVU head coach Bob Huggins. Since then, McBride has starred for the Mountaineers on the hardwood, leading WVU in scoring with 15.9 points per game this past season en route to second-team All-Big 12 and honorable mention All-American honors.

McBride made a surprise return to the gridiron Saturday afternoon during the annual Gold-Blue Spring Football Game, however, and competed in a quarterback competition with Mountaineer signal-callers Jarret Doege and Garrett Greene.

“It seems every basketball game that I watch, it’s always mentioned that he played quarterback at Moeller,” WVU football coach Neal Brown said. “I figured the fans would enjoy it and they did. He was a great sport about it.”

McBride showed his football rust early in the competition, missing his first handful of throws into the net during screen and roll-out drills. He hit his final throw of the afternoon, however, a fade pass into the back corner of the endzone.

🎯 The Deuce is Loose!@deucemcb11 pic.twitter.com/Ng8mo6sieC

— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) April 24, 2021

McBride was all smiles following the competition, which Doege won with four points, and told the crowd that he was happy to return to the football field for some friendly competition.

Brown said McBride’s surprise inclusion came about when he and Huggins were at an event the week prior talking about it.

“I had an event with Huggs last week and mentioned it to him and he said as long as there’s no gear involved he’s good,” Brown said with a laugh. “Deuce said he’s just got to have a jersey with his name on it.”

That number 4 looks clean on the field 🥶👀 @NealBrown_WVU @WVUfootball pic.twitter.com/adTyyH5SBJ

— M11es McBride (@deucemcb11) April 24, 2021

McBride’s future at WVU is up in the air currently, as he has entered his name into the 2021 NBA draft while retaining his remaining college eligibility.