The second act hasn’t come with the same kind of clear goals football provided. I’ve accomplished that through having my father see me accomplish great things.” “After rounds and rounds of really delving deep into my psyche, that’s what was at the core of it. “We share the same name, and what I wanted to do was change that name from a name that was associated with drugs, bad behavior and failure, to one that was of greatness,” he said. ![]() His dad didn’t have a chance to play, he got caught up in drugs and trouble. He took up football and strived for excellence because he wanted to transform the family name, he said. But about 18 months ago he started waking up in the morning feeling good about what he was doing, and that felt new and exciting again. Ultimately he recognized what he was doing, spent time soul-searching, and dug out with help from counseling, energy healing and church. My wife and I have gone through it, and I think we’re in a better place right now.” Doing things that were a downward spiral for me that I thought were going to make me feel better about myself and where I was. “By trying to find things that made me feel good, going out still, traveling around and going around courting women and so forth. “Often times I would neglect my priorities, in terms of being a father and a husband, and really be selfish,” he said. And a Heisman Trophy winner, a first-round draft pick, a player who was a foundational piece for his franchise, turned self-centered while he searched. "įor about eight years, he struggled with what would be next. Something that could bring that same job, fulfill that void. It wasn’t about having a job or talking about the game of football, but finding something I was passionate about, that I loved doing like I loved playing the game of football. “I was a little bitter about how things ended, I didn’t quite know what I was passionate about. ![]() “It was just a very tough time, and I fell into a bit of a depression because of it,” he said. He took real estate classes, then got an MBA from Northwestern. He held out hope for a call that never came, thinking he would be able to end his career on his terms, a scenario that doesn’t play out for many players, no matter how high-quality a professional they are. Most significantly, he appeared to always have a handle on things, and a perspective a lot of his peers lacked.īut he was not immune from the transitional struggle that haunts so many players when football comes to a close. Always thoughtful and measured, he was poised enough to work in TV talking football. He already had opened the EDGE Group, a landscape architecture firm that picked up on his major from Ohio State. But as the Tennessee Oilers/Titans feature back from 1996-03 and in a final year with the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, I don’t believe you could have found a player in the league you would have judged to have been more prepared for his second act. Such a post-career struggle is, unfortunately, standard fare for a high population of players coming to terms with the end of football. So it’s a story of maturity, or growth, of evolution and redefining myself.” But for a long time having this unfocused thought leads to unfocused behaviors. ![]() “There was a point in time where I would wake up and just say, ‘OK, what should I do today?’ And that’s OK. “My life was very sporadic, very unfocused, very undisciplined, and that was very unlike me, because I never prepared that way on a football field,” he said. I talked with him about it at length this week. The striking revelation here is that George had a lengthy struggle adapting to life after football, and it’s going to lead him to an Ohio State classroom where he will try to give students interested in athletics a blueprint for what can happen after the games end. Eddie George is an actor, an analyst, a landscape architect and still, very much, a recovering football player.įresh off a month performing as Othello in the Nashville Shakespeare Festival at Belmont University’s Trout Theater, he’ll be featured in a piece on “60 Minute Sports” at 10 ET Wednesday night on Showtime. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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