Indianapolis Colts sign Notre Dame forward Carson Towt to convert into tight end

The Indianapolis Colts have signed former Notre Dame power forward Carson Towt, the NCAA’s best rebounder last season, with the intentions of converting him to tight end, the team announced Tuesday. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound Towt averaged an NCAA-leading 12.4 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 season with Northern Arizona.

This will be Towt’s first foray into football after playing only basketball throughout high school and college. Towt, an Arizona native, spent the prior five seasons at Northern Arizona before transferring to Notre Dame as a graduate senior ahead of the 2025-26 season.

The 24-year-old Towt signed with the Colts on Tuesday as an unrestricted free agent after recently wrapping up his seventh collegiate season with the Fighting Irish, during which he averaged a team-leading 9.0 rebounds and 5.9 points per game to go along with 20 steals and 11 blocks this past season.

Towt finished his college career with 1,357 total rebounds, including a career-best and Big Sky Conference single-season record 423 boards — 304 defensively — to lead all of college basketball during the 2024-25 season. In his lone season with Notre Dame, Towt hauled in 279 total rebounds — 169 defensively — while topping double-digit boards in 11 of the Irish’s first 16 games, including 73 across the Irish’s first six non-conference contests.

Towt’s move to football has been in the works for nearly a month. Towt signed with the JB Sports agency for NFL representation on Feb. 19 with the intention to make a career switch following the conclusion of his seventh and final season of college basketball.

“Every skill set Carson has translates to the next level and we are excited to see where he goes,” JB Sports said on Instagram. “Welcome to the squad Carson!!”

Towt’s new agency represents all positions but its most prominent NFL players are tight ends. JB Sports’ client list includes San Fransisco’s George Kittle, Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft and Dallas’ Jake Ferguson. JB also represents former Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans, who enjoyed a productive rookie season with the Carolina Panthers in 2025.

Towt joins a Colts tight end room that already includes another converted basketball player in Mo Alie-Cox, who played basketball at VCU before signing with Indianapolis as an undrafted free agent in 2017. Alie-Cox recently re-upped with the Colts on Monday and is now the team’s second-longest tenured player on the roster.

— Blue and Gold’s Jack Soble contributed to this report.