Former Alabama star back Glen Coffee will graduate from U.S. Army Airborne School
Not many players walk away from football as abruptly as Glen Coffee did.
The former Alabama star running back played a season with the 49ers and even started two games. Then the former third-round pick simply told the team he was done with football during training camp before what would have been his second season, in 2010.
Most football players will stay in the NFL until they're told they can no longer come back, but Coffee admitted he just didn't like football anymore. And it turns out, he had bigger goals.
AL.com reported Coffee enlisted in the U.S. Army in February, and completed five jumps out of a plane and will graduate from the Airborne School at Fort Benning in Georgia. He wants to go to Fort Bragg and become a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Coffee, a stellar college back who rushed for 1,383 yards, said when he gave up football it was in part because of he found Christ in college and that changed his views on life.
“I've always considered myself a warrior, somebody who would fight for what he believed in,” Coffee told AL.com. “It hit me like, ‘What do you think the military does and what do you think the military is full of? Warriors. All of a sudden, I had this respect for the military and I just realized that there is no America without the men and women who serve this country.
“I figured that if I'm able, the Lord's blessed me with an able body while I'm young, to get out there and get dirty.”
It's an interesting path Coffee has taken, one that you don't hear about too often. We're glad he found a passion in life that replaces what football once was for him.
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