Nick O’Leary hemmed and hawed for a few years before he committed to reenroll at Florida State.
His decision was motivated by two factors.
The former Seminole All-American in football wanted to fulfill a promise he made to his mother. And set an example for his two young children.
“If one day I am telling my kids they need to graduate, and I don’t have my degree, what good is that?,” O’Leary said.
“It’s a good thing to cross off.”
Ten years after his playing days at FSU, O’Leary, 31, will graduate Friday with a degree in Sociology. While he won’t attend the ceremony, the North Palm Beach native is proud of his accomplishment.
O’Leary was 30 hours shy of his degree when he reenrolled in 2023, when he also served as a student assistant coach for the offense under coach Mike Norvell.
O’Leary said he learned the importance of time management between football, online courses and married life.
“Getting back into the grind of having to do that work again – doing it was the hard part but you don’t have a choice,” O’Leary said.
“You have to get it done and get it done on time.”
He was a consensus All-American and the school’s first John Mackey Award winner, presented annually to college football’s most outstanding tight end, as a senior. O’Leary, also known as a devastating blocker, finished his four-year career with with 114 receptions for 1,591 yards and 18 touchdowns in 54 games under coach Jimbo Fisher. O’Leary’s marks in receptions, yards and touchdowns are school records by a tight end.
In the NFL, O’Leary played with the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars and ended his career in 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders. He finished with 53 catches, 668 yards and four touchdowns.
O’Leary returned to Tallahassee and joined Norvell’s staff last year, helping on offense and with the tight ends. O’Leary enjoyed the experience but admitted it was time-consuming. The Seminoles went undefeated and won the ACC Championship, but were left out of the College Football Playoffs. They lost to Georgia in the Orange Bowl without a majority of their star players who opted out of the game.
“Coach Norvell is doing an awesome job,” O’Leary said. “It was a good experience. The coaches and kids really work and grind. … Getting snubbed like that (CFP) wasn’t any fun, though. Everyone saw what happened.”
O’Leary also pointed out how much college football has changed since he played. He saw into the worlds of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), describing it as “a new time” and one “where things need to be figured out.”
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