John Urschel isn’t just some “dumb jock.” The guy is literally a mathematical genius. So, I absolutely applaud his decision to retire from football after learning that 99 percent of the former NFL player brains that were studied suffer from CTE. Here’s the thing, John Urschel doesn’t NEED football. He loves the game, but his fallback job is to become a nuclear physicist. Not too shabby.
I ran into Urschel and his former teammate, Daquan Jones a few years ago in the mall. They were about to do a signing in a sports memorabilia store. They were both very gracious and took a picture with me. Although we only exchanged pleasantries, Urschel was kind and witty. I’m glad to see him leave the game on his own fruition.
I also love football. But, I’ve had this really guilty conscious about it since the whole CTE thing came to light. For some guys it’s all they have and it’s the only shot they have at making a better life for themselves. I respect that. That’s not the case for Urschel and I’m glad that he’s decided to protect his extraordinary brain. There’s no shame in this and he’s got nothing left to prove. He hung in the league for 5 years with the greatest athletes in the world, while getting his doctorate at MIT and even did some Subway commercials.
ESPN: “Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel, the NFL’s mathematics expert, abruptly announced his retirement from football at the age of 26 on Thursday, just before the first full-team practice of training camp.
His decision, which was announced by the Ravens, comes two days after a medical study indicated that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, was found in 99 percent of deceased NFL players’ brains that were donated to scientific research.
Urschel left the Ravens facility before practice without making a statement.
“This morning John Urschel informed me of his decision to retire from football,” coach John Harbaugh said in a statement. “We respect John and respect his decision. We appreciate his efforts over the past three years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Urschel is pursuing his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the offseason, focusing on spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra and machine learning. He was expected to compete for the Ravens’ starting center job in training camp.”
John Urschel was named to Forbes “30 under 30” in the field of science!
He’s also suffered a concussion and is thankfully intelligent enough to realize the damage a brain injury can cause.
ESPN: “I recognize that this is somewhat irrational, but I am doing it,” Urschel said. “It’s more important to me that I’m able to do the two things I love. I don’t know if people have really done things that I’ve done before. I don’t know if they’ll do it after me. But I enjoy carving out my own path and not listening to what people say I can and I can’t do.”
The dangers of damaging his brain is something Urschel has already experienced. In August 2015, he suffered a concussion when he went helmet-to-helmet with another player and was knocked unconscious.
“I think it hurt my ability to think well mathematically,” Urschel said. “It took me about three weeks before I was football ready. It took me a little bit longer before my high-level visualizations ability came back.”
Urschel was recently named to Forbes’ “30 under 30″ in the field of science. He has published six peer-reviewed mathematics papers to date and has three more ready for review.”