Driskel calls it right time to leave football
Not many college football players get to ride off into the sunset on their own terms.
For former Hagerty High School star Jason Driskel, who just completed an impressive redshirt junior season as quarterback at FAU, he has come to that point in his life.
He accomplished his college football goals, is graduating with a degree in civil engineering in May and his broad spectrum of potential career pursuits include graduate school, as well as possibly even law school.
That’s why Thursday’s announcement he was hanging up his football cleats was an easy decision for Driskel in terms of his future, but still “probably one of the hardest [decisions] I’ve ever had to make in my life,” Driskel told the Sentinel on Friday.
“Most people, when they have five years of [college football] eligibility, they use them. It was just the kind of thing where the timing of my graduation in May … my goals are long-term for my life … so it was just the best thing for me to do.”
Make no mistake about it. This is not a ruse for Driskel to try to gain attention to land a graduate-transfer spot playing quarterback at another school, he said.
He’s done, even though he is coming off the best season of his life.
He led FAU to an 11-3 record, throwing for 2,247 yards and 15 touchdowns, completing 66 percent of his passes (185 of 278) and throwing just four interceptions.
“No, no, no … I have no interest in transferring anywhere and playing,” Driskel said. “I’m just ready to move on to the next stage of my life.”
He did have a blast this past season, however. He enjoyed playing for first-year FAU head coach Lane Kiffin and was proud to be a part of the reason for FAU’s big turnaround, which ended in a 50-3 rout of Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl.
“It feels good. We hadn’t been that successful at FAU during my time there and so to finally take the next step and break through was a good feeling for not only myself, but for the whole team,” Driskel said.
Kiffin was an integral part in the turnaround and Driskel was able to see the football side of the man most people only see on Twitter.
“Everyone kind of has their own opinion on the whole Twitter thing,” Driskel said of Kiffin. “I know he’s really active on Twitter, but the guy knows football. He can really coach football.”
For Driskel, he’s going out on top of his game and not many people are able to do that, but it wasn’t about going out on top.
“A little bit, but like I said in the letter that I put out, I accomplished my goals in football and it was just to get a college education and I did that and I’m just ready to move on,” Driskel said.
“As of right now, how I see it playing out hopefully is that I’m going to try to do a JD [Juris Doctor] and an MBA [Master of Business Administration] at the same time. I’m currently studying for my tests like my LSAT and my GMAT and so hopefully, if I test well, I can get into a pretty good school.”
He has big plans, and even if he wound up falling back on his undergraduate major of civil engineering, he might direct his focus to construction management or wastewater management.
For now, however, the two-time Conference USA All-Academic team selection has plenty of options for this future. “Really my goal is to go to grad school, so I haven’t put that much thought into it,” Driskel said of a particular career.
If he wasn’t graduating in May, Driskel would likely be headed into his redshirt senior season at FAU looking to keep a hold on his starting position at quarterback.
The competition would likely have been fierce this spring among himself, De’Andre Johnson and Oklahoma State transfer Chris Robison.
Given the way things have lined up, however, Driskel will put football behind him.
“It’s not like I don’t love football, because I do love football,” said Driskel, whose brother Jeff also played at Hagerty, as well as at Florida and Louisiana Tech, and is now a back-up quarterback on the Cincinnati Bengals’ roster.
“The way it worked out and the timing of it, it’s just the right thing to do.”