Okay, so the other day, the topic of Lamar Jackson came up, and someone wondered aloud if he actually finished college before heading off to the NFL. It got me curious too, because you hear about players leaving early all the time, but sometimes they go back, right? So, I decided to look into it myself.
My First Steps
Naturally, the first thing I did was just grab my phone and type the question straight into a search engine: “did lamar jackson graduate from college”. Pretty straightforward.
I got a bunch of results back, as you’d expect. Lots of articles talking about his incredible career at Louisville, winning the Heisman Trophy, all that good stuff. Many mentioned him declaring for the NFL Draft after his junior season in 2017.
Digging a Little Deeper
But just because he left early didn’t automatically answer the graduation question definitively for me. Did he maybe finish up classes later? Sometimes guys do that. So, I tweaked my search a bit. I tried things like “Lamar Jackson degree University of Louisville” and “Lamar Jackson finished college”.
This brought up more specific information. Several reputable sports news sites and articles recapping his draft decision explicitly stated he left Louisville before completing his degree. They mentioned he was studying communications but made the jump to the pros without graduating first.
The Answer I Found
So, putting it all together from what I could find:
- He played for the University of Louisville.
- He had an amazing college career, even winning the Heisman.
- He decided to enter the NFL Draft after his junior year (end of 2017 season, drafted in 2018).
- He did not graduate from college before leaving for the NFL.
It seems pretty clear-cut based on the reports from his draft time and university records mentioned in articles. He made the choice to go pro when his stock was incredibly high after that junior season. So, while he attended college and played ball there, he didn’t walk away with the diploma before starting his NFL journey. Just wanted to share what I found during my little search!
