
John Urschel Goes Pro - tacomonstrous
https://hmmdaily.com/2018/09/28/john-urschel-goes-pro/
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tnecniv
It blows my mind that he had the energy required to be in the NFL and a PhD
student at the same time. It's not easy to do either of those part time.

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hcs
It's not easy to do either of those full time (speaking as a former PhD
student)!

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tnecniv
As a current one, believe me, I know.

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iopuy
It really is extremely difficult, I also know.

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jnordwick
Every single comment here is absolutely glowing. Completely deserved. Whenever
I see a question asked of him or he comments on something, you couldn't script
a better answer.

The biggest take away I get from Urshel is that you can always go back to what
you love. His dedication is infectious.

They always say the Offensive Line is the most intelligent group of guys on
the field. I've heard it as the Dance of the Elephants. While the hitting is
fun, there is a while lot of communication, execution, and study that goes
into the position. Urshel is a fine example of all of this.

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poulsbohemian
John, if you are reading - you are a hero to my football-playing and future
engineer son. Thank you for showing it's possible to follow more than one
dream and path.

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kkylin
In case anyone else was similarly curious, here's a link to his first paper:
[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10569-012-9461-8](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10569-012-9461-8)

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RickJWagner
This guy should be the role model used in tv commercials. I doubt it'll
happen, though.

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imjk
He already is. He also gets a fair amount of media coverage. All well
deserved.

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vertline3
Yeah, there was a cool thing where he played current FIDE Chess World Champion
Challenger Fabiano Caruana.

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theparanoid
Contrary to the article most people shouldn't try to be professional
mathematicians. All the people I knew in a mid-ranked program switched into
software afterwards to make money.

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NotSammyHagar
I guess the intellectual training, abstraction, etc prepares you well for a
software career, compared to say psychology (nothing against psych but it's
just math is closer to cs, we are kind of poor applied math engineers). But
then you end up have to learn programming practices, engineering strategies,
etc.

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sytelus
If I become financially independent, this is exactly what I would do (probably
in a different field, however). Kudos to John Urschel.

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Latteland
I have thought about this. I'm almost financially independent, but I already
have a phd in CS. What should I do? I thought about a "retirement job" where I
am a cs prof in a nice place to live. I could go for another phd in math,
physics, or astronomy, my interests, but why? I would really like a job where
I can hang around and think and learn interesting stuff about tech and
science.

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ioddly
> I would really like a job where I can hang around and think and learn
> interesting stuff about tech and science.

If you achieve financial independence, can't you do that without a job?

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y4mi
Having some responsibility is good for your mental health and motivation
though

You'll always get that with a job , but rarely without one

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Latteland
I agree, I need something to strive for.

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pharaohgeek
I'm from Baltimore and met him one day when I was out grabbing some lunch. He
couldn't have been a nicer guy. Glad to see him continuing to do what makes
him happy.

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ralmidani
An unfortunate aspect of our culture: he probably would have had more fame and
wealth had he stuck to football.

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mayneack
I don't think that's true. He played offensive line which isn't a high profile
position and he wasn't a star. I think he's much more famous due to the
Math/NFL combo than he would be in either alone.

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espeed
Starting offensive linemen are among the highest paid players in the NFL and
have the longest careers on average, some spanning more than 15 years.

Dallas is paying its O-Line $41,174,860 this year, $4,574,984 per player on
average (including all 9 starters and backups), which is 22.25% of the salary
cap.

NFL Offensive Line Spending by Team
[https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/offensive-
line/](https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/offensive-line/)

And the Giants just made Nate Solder the highest-paid offensive lineman in
NFL, "a contract worth $62 million — an average of $15.5 million per year —
with a $34.9 million guaranteed."

[https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2018/03/14/nate-...](https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2018/03/14/nate-
solder-giants/Rbf7SiT6jteUqvP8MSSTYI/story.html)

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dgacmu
The cited article above notes he earned $1.8m over three years:
[https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/27/nfl-player-who-retired-to-
pu...](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/27/nfl-player-who-retired-to-pursue-a-phd-
at-mit-lived-on-25000-a-year.html)

