As a high school senior in Atlanta, Kaleb Cost was determined to play both football and baseball in college, and there were many schools that would let him try.

By choosing North Carolina, Cost made two coaches, Mack Brown and Scott Forbes, happy. Brown was able to add a defensive back to his football roster with excellent hand-eye coordination and the kind of explosive speed that helped Cost steal 84 bases his senior year – a Georgia single-season baseball record. Forbes got an outfielder who was named All-State, had a .545 batting average his senior year and, well, had the speed to steal 84 bases.

It was up to Cost to make it work.

“It’s definitely a lot,” Cost said this week. “It’s a lot of juggling.”

The NCAA allows college athletes to devote 20 hours per week to their sport. But what about an athlete who plays two sports? Do you double that time?

“Twenty hours left,” said Cost.

Cost, who was a freshman at UNC last year, said his spring days required strict time management as he had to juggle his classes and his two sports requirements. He said an average day often started with him attending the football team’s 6:30 a.m. meetings and then watching spring practice.

“If I had a baseball game, I would focus my mental preparation here on the football game and then go over and play a game there,” he said during a media interview at the Koman Practice Complex.

“Over there” is Boshamer Stadium, the Tar Heels’ baseball stadium across the street.

Cost said eight colleges offered the 5-foot-10, 195-pound player the opportunity to play both sports, including Florida State. At UNC, he joined a football program led by a Hall of Fame coach and a baseball program that has won ACC titles and played in the College World Series in the past.

“It’s fun to train him”

Football came first. Cost was used on special teams during the regular season last fall when the Heels went 8-5. Then a bigger opportunity came along: He started at the starting position in the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl against West Virginia, replacing the injured Alijah Huzzie.

Cost had five tackles and intercepted two passes in the bowl game in Charlotte, but lost 30-10.

“It gave me a new perspective on the role of the star And a lot of self-confidence,” said Cost.

With Huzzie now back at cornerback, Cost is positioned to get plenty of snaps this season as the star, the hybrid of slot corner and linebacker that is so important to a functioning defense. Huzzie, Cost noted, was adept at making “crunch-time plays” as a star, and he wants to do the same.

“This position has so much to do with mentality and scheme, and you have to cover a lot of guys in long stretches of the field,” defensive coordinator Geoff Collins said. “Kaleb has presence. I know he’s only been here a year, but he has a certain maturity. He’s fun to coach.”

And he’s fun to play with, said safety Antavious “Stick” Lane.

“He’s going to be a key player for our defense at that position, he flies around,” Lane said this week. “He’s very physical and can blitz from the side. He’s a great blitzer.”

“And he can cover, and that’s the most important thing. He can cover and take out slot guys. I see a lot of great things coming from him.”

That was the case for Cost at Sandy Creek High in Atlanta. He was a two-way football star, catching 45 passes while also being a defensive pillar at cornerback – his interception helped him win the Georgia AAA championship game as a senior.

“I love them both”

And then, of course, there was baseball.

In Little League, one of his outfield throws hit the runner at home and was the best play of the day according to ESPN SportsCenter. That was an early thrill.

Cost said with a smile that he had been asked “a million times” what sport he liked best and gave a predictable, if diplomatic, answer.

“I love them both,” he said

“I think I’m equally talented,” he added. “I plan to complete both four years of school and hopefully have the opportunity to choose between football and baseball. I’ve always been intent on playing both sports until I can’t do it anymore.”

Others at UNC have combined football and baseball. Longtime fans remember the versatile Danny Talbott, the 1965 ACC football player of the year and a member of UNC’s 1966 College World Series team. In the late 1990s, Tyrell Godwin was a standout special teams football player and outstanding outfielder, and Derrick DePriest was a kicker and All-ACC closer on the mound.

Timmy Lawson, a 6-foot-5 freshman from Florida, will play tight end and throw for the Tar Heels this fall.

“It’s hard, man, and you need someone who is fully committed to it,” Forbes said Wednesday. “Very few people can do that.”

Last year, one of Cost’s “wheels” actually wore out. Cost said he suffered from an overuse condition in one foot in high school — a sort of “overuse injury,” as he called it. It was something he struggled with until he couldn’t do it anymore.

Cost said he suddenly felt “excruciating” pain in his foot one day in the spring before a UNC baseball practice and that severe swelling had set in. That was it, he said.

“I made a commitment to prepare for football season,” Cost said. “I did what I needed to do to get healthy.”

Cost’s baseball season was over. He appeared in nine games, mostly as a relief runner, for a team that finished first in the ACC during the regular season and reached the 2024 College World Series after some amazing late-season comebacks and walk-off victories in the NCAA Tournament.

“Kaleb is a joy to be around and he brings a lot of energy,” Forbes said, calling Cost’s injury a “bummer.”

“I can see him playing a bigger role this year. What’s even more important for him is that the outfield is completely open. We brought in a few players that we really like, but Kaleb was in the program and has talent. He just needs to catch up as far as his live at-bats go.”

This leads Cost to ask a question about the comparison between football and baseball: If he had the choice, would he prefer a game-winning pick-6 or a walkoff home run in football?

Cost whistled, was momentarily confused, and asked, “What is the situation?”

OK, how about a game-winning interception to beat NC State, or a game-winning home run against someone like, say, LSU in the NCAA tournament? Those were his decisions.

“Walkoff home run,” he said. “I’m not lying. Baseball is different. It’s a tougher sport, both in terms of hitting and fielding. There’s more stress.”

And one more thing, Cost said. He talked to Forbes and has something planned for every home run he might hit for the Heels: He’ll circle third base with both arms out in front of him as if he were holding a football.

You have to give some credit to the sport that funds this two-sport thing, right?

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