By Lukas Voss

Getting to the NFL has always been hard. Players work all of their lives to achieve that one dream, to play professional football. For some, the dream means sacrificing their education. While playing NCAA football, student athletes often have a hard time balancing meaningful academics with their high profile athletic careers. Their classroom schedule is often driven by what fits into a two-a-day practice schedule. Cody Riggs faced the same decision during his last year at the University of Florida and he made a different choice.

Riggs decided to leave Florida and enroll at the University of Notre Dame for his last year in school, to obtain a graduate degree. He continued playing on the school´s football team, but concentrated on his studies at the Mendoza School of Business. While education is important to him, he is still pushing hard to reach his dream of playing in the NFL.