Former Kansas quarterback Mario Kinsey has switched from football to basketball at Sam Houston State.

Kinsey, who started seven games at QB for the Jayhawks last fall as a red-shirt freshman, transferred to Sam Houston State after he was dismissed on Dec. 18, 2001, for violating KU athletic department policies.

Last April, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Kinsey sparkled in the Bearkats’ spring game, throwing two touchdown passes. But he won’t be playing football this fall.

“I decided to go straight basketball,” Kinsey told the Huntsville, Texas, Item. “It’s been on my mind for awhile, actually since I was at Kansas. When I got here, I went through football and I had a good spring, but my heart wasn’t in it.”

Kinsey played in 16 basketball games for KU as a true freshman during the 2000-2001 season. He averaged 8.8 minutes and 1.9 points per game before dropping off the squad midway through the second semester for reported “academic reasons.”

Despite rumors he is dropping football because he is academically ineligible, Kinsey stressed he has simply decided not to play.

“I know this is where my heart is,” Kinsey told the Huntsville newspaper. “Right now I’m just going to take it one step at a time and go through this school year, play basketball and if I decide to play football again then it’ll happen. If not, I’ll just play basketball.”

Kinsey led Waco La Vega High to the Texas Class 3A state basketball championship as a senior in 2000.

SHSU basketball coach Bob Marlin said he was thrilled to add a player of Kinsey’s caliber to his team.

Because KU and SHSU are both in NCAA Division One for basketball, Kinsey will have to sit out the first semester under the one-year transfer rule. He’ll be eligible on Dec. 18.

NCAA transfer rules do not apply to Kinsey in football, however, because Kansas is in Div. I-A in that sport while SHSU is in Div. I-AA.