Randall Gay trades playbook for law books | Events

New Orleans Saints Super Bowl Champion Randall “Blue” Gay is taking his football experience to the  classroom.

The Brusly native  is in what he describes as his “rookie” season at Southern University Law School.  He is about to complete his first semester.

“I’m that bright-eyed rookie starting everything new from scratch,” Gay tells 9News Neighborhoods. “I’m like ‘Oh my God. What did I get myself into?’”

He enrolled part-time at Southern after retiring from football last year.  Gay spent seven seasons in the NFL, winning Super Bowl Championships with the New England Patriots in 2004 and the Saints in 2009. He was forced to retire after suffering a series of concussions.

“There’s life after football,” says Gay, 30. “You always have to think about that. People don’t realize that you become old in the sport when you’re 30.  That’s still a long way from real retirement.”

Even though he’s turned in his playbook for law books, he still uses the lessons he learned while on the field. He says law school is a challenge just like football and when he becomes a lawyer he will be competing against other lawyers in the courtroom just like he used to compete against other players.

So what has the transition been like?  “I didn’t have to really study for football. It’s just something you know.  Now, I’m starting from scratch writing briefs. I don’t know what a brief is. I’m taking a tort class. I don’t know what a tort is.  In football, we have seven days to prepare. Now I have to do assignments and have them done by the next day. But I’ ve learned to adapt quickly.”

He hopes to serve as a role model for young people. He wants them to see that if he could go back to school after a successful football career it’s certainly something that they can do too. He says he wants them to know he could have taken the easy way out, but it’s important to continually challenge yourself.

He has no concrete plans yet as to what he wants to do once he gets his degree, but sports agents beware.

“I tell my agent ‘ don’t let me to get this law degree. I’ll take all of your clients from you,’” he says laughing.

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