In the fall, Butler High's Zach Ferguson was an All-Observer and a North Carolina all-state selection at wide receiver, catching passes from his brother, Riley, likely a future Division I college quarterback.

Right now, Zach is one of the state's best basketball players, too, averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds for Butler, which trails Myers Park and South Mecklenburg by one game in the Southwestern 4A Conference championship race.

Ferguson will sign a football scholarship with Lenoir-Rhyne today, his mother said, and the school has given him the OK to play basketball, too.

"He's just a good high school player," said Butler coach Donald Kirby, whose team rallied to beat Ardrey Kell 51-48 Tuesday. "And he's one of those guys who's always playing basketball, and because he's such a great athlete, it doesn't take him much time to get into basketball shape."

To Kirby's point, Ferguson had two basketball practices before Butler played Sweet 16 No. 1 Olympic on Nov. 29 on the road. In the first half, Kirby said Olympic's Allerik Freeman, a 6-foot-3 guard who has more than 20 Division I college scholarship offers, guarded Ferguson. In the second, 6-5 B.J. Gladden covered him. Gladden has 12 Division I offers.

Ferguson finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three assists, though the Bulldogs lost 88-79. And he's had a string of big games since then.

Last season, Ferguson was an all-conference pick in the Southwestern 4A as a power forward. Butler had three talented guards in Jalen White, Anthony Stitt and Marcus Burton. Stitt and Burton graduated last June and White transferred to Kennedy Charter, where he's the starting point guard.

That opened up a spot for Ferguson, nearly 6-5 and 210 pounds, to move to his natural wing guard position.

"I've always been able to play there," Ferguson said, "but I've never gotten a chance to show it playing behind Stitt and Marcus and Jalen. But being a senior this year, I had to step up and show out and lead my team."

Ferguson said he had seven football scholarship offers, including Charlotte, UNC Pembroke and The Citadel.

In basketball, he had offers from Virginia Military and Lenoir-Rhyne plus serious interest from College of Charleston, Jacksonville, Wingate and Winthrop. East Carolina offered Ferguson a preferred walk-on, his coach said.

Not bad for a guy who had been basically moonlighting as a basketball player.

"He's always been a big fan of basketball," Kirby said, "and he played AAU early but football took off so quick and he was told by some people that basketball was just a dream and he should concentrate on football, so he stopped playing AAU his sophomore year. But he loves playing."

And so he's kept playing.

"I love football during football season and I love basketball during basketball season," Ferguson said. "I'm really loving basketball right now, so I guess that's my love."

I asked Ferguson if he had to choose a sport, just one, to play for the rest of his life, which would he pick.

He couldn't. His brother, Riley, also plays basketball, but his future is at quarterback.

Zach's? I'm thinking he'll keep double-dipping.

"I always knew I could play basketball like this," he said, "but this feels good to go out there and do it right after football. It was a tough transition and I thought I did it really well but I'm still trying to improve my basketball game every day, so I've got to work at it. I do know this, I don't want to give up either sport right now."

Luckily, he won't have to.