ROCK HILL, S.C. — Ahmad Hudson can understand why you’re mystified; after all, it’s not every day that a prospect who ranks in the Top 25 in the SC Next 100 in two different sports bucks the tide and locks in to contribute in both sports collegiately.

“Most guys pick which sport they want to concentrate on before high school,” Hudson said. “I wasn’t going to do that.”

Hudson’s logic is simple: Why discontinue one sport when they’re mutually beneficial to his production in both?

Hard to argue with that when you check in at No. 22 overall in SC Next’s football rankings and No. 21 in basketball recruiting rankings for 2027.

“I love both sports equally, I could never pick one as my favorite,” Hudson told ESPN. “Basketball helps me so much with my footwork, getting off the line with my routes and when I have to block smaller guys and defensive linemen. Football helps me be the toughest player on the basketball court at all times.

“A lot of times I’m guarding taller guys because of my toughness. When you show a guy you’re tougher than them on the court they tend to just back down. My dad just always told me that I have to go harder than everyone else if I was going to play both.”

Like his son, Hudson’s father, Antonio Hudson, starred on the gridiron and the hardwood before putting down the football and concentrating on hoops just before high school.

He went on to star at LSU, where he played from 2002 to 2005, scoring over 1,000 career points and twice earning SEC All-Tournament team honors.

“He wanted it to be my choice on whether I wanted to give one up or play both,” Hudson said. “I just felt like I could handle both, and I knew that I was going to give everything I had to both sports.”

That much was evident last season when Hudson, a tight end, racked up 61 receptions for 554 yards and 12 touchdowns while leading Ruston High School (Louisiana) to a state title game. He followed that up by taking Ruston to the state title game on the hardwood, averaging 19 points and 14 rebounds a game in his junior year.

This spring, Hudson has emerged as one of the top players in the Nike EYBL, a trend that has carried over to his showing at the NBPA Top 100 Camp.

“I love everything about the game of basketball,” Hudson said. “I’m just a competitor, and I like playing against elite guys because it helps me get better. I got recruited for basketball first.”

LSU began its pursuit of the 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward during his freshman year. Hudson made his dual-sport intentions clear from the beginning.

“That was the first school that I told that I want to do both and they agreed to it,” Hudson said. “I wasn’t worried that one coach wouldn’t want me to play the other sport because I was set on what I wanted to do.”

The Tigers’ receptiveness paid off last month when they earned Hudson’s commitment.

With “the hard part” of the recruitment process out of the way, Hudson’s focus is geared toward trendsetting and collecting accolades.

“I know there were guys that came before me like Tony Gonzalez that played two sports, but they weren’t maybe at the level I am in the rankings,” Hudson said. “I want to pave the way and prove that you can do both at a high level and have success. My main goal is to make All-SEC as a freshman in both sports. I feel like I can get it done.”