The seemingly important decisions that we make as we begin our adult lives can often have little bearing on where our lives or careers end up decades later. The choices that we make as new adults can seem difficult and ominous as most of us are forced to make what seem like life-determining decisions at such a young age. All prior to graduating from high school, new adults are expected to choose a college, a major, a profession, and a life goal.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a common question that well-meaning adults force teenagers to answer. Adults make the answer to this question seem very important and foundational, so the possible answer can then weigh on a new adult’s psyche at a tender young age. But rarely do plans or choices made when you’re eighteen come to determine your fate in life or your path to success in the post-college world. And that should be embraced and celebrated as your life’s road is wide open, and the choice of destination is your own.
I am always fascinated during the opening moments of a televised NFL football game when each player’s headshot is shown on the screen. The player briefly introduces himself. He’ll say, “Zack Martin, Offensive Guard, Notre Dame,” or “David Andrews, Center, University of Georgia.” It is always interesting to learn where these professional players attended college as they all seem to still identify with their alma mater years after leaving their school. Tom Brady played in his twentieth NFL season in 2019 and owns six Super Bowl rings, but he still looks at the camera and dutifully notes, “Tom Brady, Quarterback, Michigan.”
While it is interesting to learn where these singularly talented stars played in college, it is also noteworthy to discover where many of them did not play. Typically, half of the players introduced attended name-brand football colleges and universities such as Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Florida, and Stanford. But if you pay attention, the schools of the other half of professional players are equally as interesting. You’ll see Jeff Heath, from Saginaw Valley State. Joe Looney from Wake Forest. Joe Thomas from South Carolina State. Randall Cobb from the University of Kentucky. Julian Edelman from Kent State. For football career advancement, it helps to perform in the bright lights and prominent exposure of a well-known powerhouse school. But it is not a requirement to achieve the highest success in the sport after graduating from college. NFL players are usually thought to come from the five “power conferences” in college football, The SEC, ACC, Pacific-12, Big Ten and Big 12. However, players from these major conferences account for only 63 percent of all NFL players. About 37 percent of NFL players took a much more difficult route to the professional bright lights, but they overcame their obstacles and arrived there anyway.
On the player plaques at the Pro Football Hall of fame in Canton, Ohio, the hall proudly displays the colleges and universities that its members attended, and it is a widely diversified list indeed. Notre Dame does claim the most hall of fame members with thirteen, followed closely by the University of Southern California with twelve, Ohio State with ten, Michigan with nine, and Alabama with eight. These are proud and long-standing football powerhouse schools. But look down the list of hall of fame members and you will see players from Bethune-Cookman, Bishop, Bucknell, Baylor, and Brigham Young. And those are just the colleges that start with a B. There are 164 universities and colleges represented in the hall of fame. And some of these institutions you may never have even heard of, such as Fort Valley State, Maryville College, and Philips University.
A recent study showed that of the 1,950 players on NFL rosters, the players combined to attend 256 different colleges and universities in the United States. The powerhouse football programs may dominate autumn Saturday afternoon television time, but top-level talent can be found at a wide variety of different schools. Playing for a nationally known football school certainly helps athletes move on to the NFL. That’s because of the consistent national media exposure and the stiff competition week after week that hones the skills of worthy players. But being a member of one of these exclusive clubs is not the only way to gain employment in the world of professional football.
The order in which NFL players are chosen in the annual draft always seems to be of the utmost importance for fans, coaches, and players as well. The order of selection fixes both the size of the initial contract that a player earns upon entering the league and bestows bragging rights in the NFL player community. While the draft position in which a player is chosen from each round of the draft can generally predict eventual success in the league over time (one-third of hall of fame members were drafted in the first round), rising above your lowly position in the draft has been a common occurrence in league history. And a low draft position does not forestall the honor of gaining enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as twenty-one players drafted in the third round and nine players from the fourth round wear yellow hall of fame jackets.
The current NFL draft encompasses seven rounds of choice for each team, and four-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady was drafted in the sixth round. NFL MVP Terrell Davis also came out of the sixth round. Mike Webster, one of the most celebrated centers in NFL history, waited until the fifth round to hear his name called. Shannon Sharpe, round seven. Legends such as Steve Largent, Charles Haley, Cris Carter and Andre Reed were all chosen in the fourth round. In fact, 30 percent of current NFL players went undrafted in their draft, and yet were later signed by a team.
Colleges and universities have a similar initial pecking order for high school students wishing to attend a prestigious university in order to succeed in the business world and attain the highest and most lucrative corporate positions. The admittance rate for applicants to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Brown, and Princeton typically hover in the single digits, and it is thought that admittance to the most coveted universities will propel its students to financial success and greatness later in life. However, if we look at where the CEOs of all Fortune 500 companies attended college, it is also a widely diversified list. In 2019, Harvard University is ranked second on the list, as it has produced twelve current Fortune 500 CEOs. But first on the list is the University of Wisconsin, where the CEOs of fourteen Fortune 500 companies once called home. Texas A&M University also ranks near the top, with six CEOs. Purdue University has six as well. The University of Illinois has five, and Bucknell has five. Yes, the most respected and highly coveted universities all rank in the top 20 for CEO attendance, but so are many other lesser known educational institutions that have produced successful executives as well.
Words of the Wise: How you are arbitrarily ranked, chosen, or valued by others when you’re eighteen, twenty or twenty-two does not strongly predict the success you will achieve or where you will fit in society or the business world at twenty-eight, forty-eight or sixty-eight. These rankings are merely starting points and are only based on the opinions of people who do not know you. These valuations are made by people who are in the position of having to make quick judgements, choosing from a large group of similarly qualified people. These people do not know you, your passion, your ability to improve, your upside, or your work ethic. They cannot keep you down in life by picking you last, and they can’t ensure your success by choosing you first.
What you achieve and how high you fly during your life is strictly up to you. Hard work and perseverance in your twenties and thirties will matter much more to your eventual success than what strangers thought of you when you were nineteen. History is not written by rankings; your future is forged only by you.
