Ravens OL John Urschel, 26, Retires From NFL To Pursue PhD In Math At MIT

Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman John Urschel unexpectedly announced his retirement from the NFL on Thursday.

John Urschel Retirement Ravens NFL

The 26-year-old Canadian-born player was expected to compete for the Ravens’ starting center position in training camp, but he will now move on to a very different professional endeavor instead: since last year, Urschel has been pursuing his doctorate in applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Urschel’s  announcement comes two days after the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that concluded that the neurodegenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, was found in the brains of 177 out of 202 deceased football players. CTE has been discovered to be caused by repeated blows to the head, and the aforementioned report also revealed that the disease was found in the brains of nearly 99 percent of former NFL players.

Urschel has revealed that he believes the multiple injuries he sustained during his three-year career as an NFL player hampered his capacity to solve math problems. In August 2015, just before starting his second season with the Ravens, the lineman suffered a concussion after bumping helmets with another player and he ended up 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.”

However, the lineman told HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” the opposite in an interview in January: that he wished to continue playing football because his love for the sport exceeded his fear of suffering brain trauma or other related injuries.

“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.”

Urschel studied mathematics at Penn State — where he also played football from 2009 to 2013 — and graduated in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA. He also received his Masters in mathematics from Penn State in 2013, and wrote his thesis on topics in applied mathematics. His specialities include spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra and machine learning. He has published six peer-reviewed mathematics papers thus far and has three more prepared for review.  While at Penn State, he was awarded the William V. Campbell Trophy, known as the “academic Heisman”.

The lineman was selected by the Ravens as a fifth-round draft pick in 2014. In his three seasons with the team, Urschel made 13 starts. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was informed of Urschel’s decision to retire on Thursday, according to CNN, and released the following 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.”

Due to his unique abilities in math, Urschel has appeared in several commercials, including a Bose headphones ad also starring Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt.

BALTIMORE, MD – NOVEMBER 1: Guard John Urschel #64 of the Baltimore Ravens looks on prior to a game against the San Diego Chargers at M&T Bank Stadium on November 1, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)