STARKVILLE — It’s far from uncommon to see college athletes that left school early for the professional ranks return to school to finish their degrees. In this day and age with year-round enrollment and numerous redshirts, it’s even normal for some football players to receive graduate degrees before finishing their eligibilities.
Justin Senior would have been one of the latter — if he had his choice.
When Senior completed his first Bachelor’s degree, in political science, a regulation applying to international students kept him from pursuing a graduate degree while maintaining football responsibilities, so he decided to chase a second degree.
He did just that and is one credit short of a sociology degree as he prepares to Seattle, his new home after the Seahawks drafted him in the sixth round of April’s NFL Draft.
“I’ll get it eventually, but I’m really focusing on football right now,” Senior said. “I’ll look into it next year in the spring, maybe.”
Senior said due to the time demands of both playing football in the Southeastern Conference and of pursuing a graduate degree, most football players doing so have to do it mostly through online classes. That was not an option for Senior because he’s Canadian.
According to NAFSA, international students like Senior (from Montreal) can only count one online course toward their minimum requirements to meet full-time student classification.
That being the case, it stands to reason Senior’s final semesters would have best been used pursuing a second degree as opposed to making minimal progress toward a master’s.
MSU coach Dan Mullen was not surprised at Senior’s academic pursuits. They were, in fact, part of the reason Senior was awarded the Kent Hull Trophy, given to the state’s best offensive lineman.
“He’s going to be successful in whatever he chooses after football,” Mullen said at the time.
For now, Senior trades sociology for Seattle.
In doing so, Senior has taken on the tricky task of training himself to be a left tackle, where Seattle told him he would begin, while training versatility to increase his chance of making the final roster. Senior said most of his pre-draft training was focused on the latter and remains that way.
“Playing left tackle is what I did when I came here to Mississippi State and started one game against Bowling Green at left tackle, so it’s nothing that’s completely new to me,” Senior said. “Anything you would practice for tackle, you do it both ways. It’s basically the same thing, and in the NFL, every position has their hand in the ground.”
Senior said he has been working out in Starkville before going to Seattle next week for rookie minicamp and other team activities that will keep him in Seattle through June 21.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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