Ask Terry Williams right now what his favorite sport is and his answer is football. Wait a few months, and the answer will probably be basketball.

Whichever sport he is playing, Williams is one of the best players out there.

Northeastern’s 6-foot-5, 190-pound senior quarterback has been drawing the attention NCAA Division I recruiters, and his work on the basketball court could also net him a scholarship. But which way will Williams go?

“I feel like I want to go to college to play basketball, that’s where my heart is,” Williams admits. “But, I like football. To me, what ever I get a better scholarship in, that’s what I’m going to run with.

Maybe of Williams’ coaches think he has a better chance of landing that big scholarship on the football field, including Northeastern football coach Antonio Moore.

“I think he’d get a better look in football,” Moore said. “He’s an athlete in football. In basketball, he’s a player but he doesn’t stand out as much. In football, he’s 6-5, 190. Redshirt him a year and he’ll be 200. In two years as a sophomore, he’d probably be 210, stronger, bigger, faster.”

If anyone, Ronald Nixon might know Williams best as an athlete. Nixon is the head basketball coach at Northeastern and is the Eagles’ quarterback coach.

“I think with his skill set in football right now, he could go DI,” Nixon said. “With his skill set in basketball, right now, he’s probably Division II, maybe a DI mid-major. Most colleges are looking for tall quarterbacks. In basketball, their looking for tall guards. He has the ability to play guard, but he needs to work on his dribbling ability and stuff like that.”

Williams has considered the possibility of playing both sports in college, but seems dedicated to the idea of focusing on just one sport at the next level.

“I’m kind of iffy about it because I feel like if I get a scholarship in football, I’d want to work on that and do the best I can do,” Williams said. “Then again, when that season is over, I might want to roll into basketball. I want to keep moving.”

Williams moved a lot last year and this summer. In his first year as the Eagles’ starting quarterback, Williams led them to a 7-5 record by throwing for 1,426 yards and 17 touchdowns. He transitioned right into basketball and led Northeastern to the Northeastern Coastal Conference regular-season championship, being named conference Player of the Year and The Daily Advance Boys Basketball Player of the Year. In the offseason, Williams kept busy with football camps and practice as well as AAU basketball — most on the same day.

“From 4 to 6 we’d be on the football field, but from 7 to 9:30 I had AAU practice, so I’ve been busy the whole summer,” Williams said.

While it is yet to be seen what the practice will do for his basketball game, the hard work paid off in football, according to Moore.

‘He’s a little smarter as far as what we do,” Moore said. “He can audible a bit now, which last year he couldn’t. I had to go with one primary receiver. But now, he can scramble and check first, second and third receiver and he’s doing a pretty decent job.

“He’s working hard in practice, which converts to the football field in the actual game.”

Things got off to a rough start last week in a 40-14 loss at 2A power Southwest Edgecombe. Williams hit 13 of 31 passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Over the summer, Williams attended football camps at North Carolina State, East Carolina and some passing camps in Virginia. He then went off to an AAU national basketball tournament and colleges interested in his court talent started coming around.

“Up until the last month, everything was football (recruiting),” Moore said. “When he went to nationals this year in basketball, he’s gotten a couple of looks.”

Williams has had contact with schools like N.C. State, East Carolina and Old Dominion for football, although his dream would be a chance to play at another North Carolina school.

“The school I really want to look to is Wake Forest,” Williams said.

Williams has gone through a transformation of sorts over the years. He began high school by pushing academics to the side, but soon realized that it was much more important, especially if he was going to get into college.

“I used make C’s and B’s and maybe slide in a D and I didn’t think it was a problem,” said Williams, who is now an A-B Honor Roll student. “Coach Moore sat me down and showed me how much it means to make the A-B Honor Roll. I really didn’t think about college much. Now, it’s more important to me. You have to hit the books.

“That’s what I tell (younger players) now, ‘Your ninth-grade, 10th-grade year, take is seriously. You don’t want to dig yourself a hole and you can’t do anything about it.’

That maturity has shown up on the field as well.

“It’s a tremendous change from last year in football,” said Nixon. “Last year, he was one of those 11th-grade kids playing the role of a leader, but not really all there. Now, he has developed himself as a leader and most kids look up to him.”

Despite the all the interest from colleges, Williams is in no hurry to make a decision

“I don’t have a timetable yet,” Williams said. “I’m going to wait until basketball season is over then I will make my decision.”