College sports have changed quite a bit in the era of name, image and likeness payments and unrestricted transfers, but this might be stretching the definition of student athlete a bit too far. South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers is a senior who's set to graduate in December. He's actually completed all of his coursework, though, and has only one internship left this fall.
That internship is at a golf course: the Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia, South Carolina, reports Hale McGranahan of Gamecock247. "Just facility management and stuff like that, cutting grass and picking up balls like that," he said. It actually tracks with his major — sport and entertainment — and fits with his post-playing goals.
"If I don't end up doing engineering – I've always wanted to do engineering (or architecture) – if I don't do that, then something around stadiums, laying out blueprints, drawing up blueprints and stuff like that," he said. "Or facility management." He's also had an internship with Contract Construction, which is working in improvements to Williams-Brice Stadium and could help with the other parts of that plan. "I sat in with a lot of those meetings at the stadium, the group out of Oklahoma that they gave the job to build the stadium, do the design and all that, I met with them," he said.
"I pretty much knew what was going on over there before a lot of people did." It's not unusual at all for internships to be part of any student's college experience, and it sounds like Sellers may have designed his fall of senior year this way so he can better focus on football and enjoying his last taste of college. If he uses this schedule to better his draft profile for the NFL, that's great for achieving his dreams. And if all he does is enjoy the fall with his teammates and fellow South Carolina students, at least he'll have his degree to fall back on.
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