Utah Football Captain Tackles Graduate Research and NFL Dreams
- Meet Jaren Kump: Utah football captain, Rimington Trophy watch list honoree, and kinesiology graduate student.
- Discover how he managed Division I football’s demanding schedule with a thesis-based master’s program.
- Explore his research on athlete health after retirement and why it matters.
For most student-athletes, the demands of Division I football alone are overwhelming. Between practice, film review, weight training, and travel, players often commit 40 hours a week—essentially a full-time job. Add graduate-level coursework and a thesis-based master’s program, and the challenge becomes extraordinary.
But that is exactly what Jaren Kump, captain and starting center for the University of Utah football team, did. He just completed his last season on the U, and shares how he balanced family life, football and school. “I learned that I need to be where my feet are,” Kump says. “If I’m at football, that’s where I am. When I’m working on my thesis, I’m not thinking about football.”
His coach, Jim Harding, calls him “one of the best students of the game” he’s ever coached. “Jaren has the highest IQ of any player I’ve coached in the past 12 years,” Harding says. “And that isn’t just because he’s good—the kid works hard. I’ll get text messages after he watches game tape with suggestions and adjustments, and they’re things I would have pointed out.”
Kump is unique as a competitive football player working towards the NFL while also working towards a master’s degree. Tanya Halliday, associate professor in health and kinesiology and his mentor, explains the significance of what Kump is achieving. “Balancing the demands of Division I athletics and a thesis-based master’s program is incredibly rare,” she says. “Only about 3% of NCAA Division I athletes pursue graduate degrees, and even fewer complete research-intensive programs. Jaren’s ability to not just manage it all, but excel, is a testament to his maturity and discipline.”
Kump chose to pursue kinesiology because it keeps him close to the sport he loves. “It’s a good way to stay near the game as a strength and conditioning coach,” he says.
To understand the magnitude of Kump’s balancing act, consider a typical in-season schedule for a Division I football player:
- Monday: Recovery lifts and film review (2–3 hours)
- Tuesday–Thursday: Practice (3 hours), position meetings (1 hour), film study (1–2 hours), plus strength training
- Friday: Walk-through and travel for away games
- Saturday: Game day (can be 8–12 hours including prep and travel)
- Sunday: Recovery, treatment, and film review
That’s 35–40 hours dedicated to football each week—on top of graduate classes, research, and thesis writing.
Balancing academics and athletics is no easy feat, but Kump is not only making it work—he’s excelling. His teammates voted him captain, and his achievements have earned national recognition. As the starting center, he was a semi-finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, awarded to the country’s top football scholar-athlete across all divisions, and was on the Rimington Trophy Watch List for the best center in college football. And now, he is finishing up his research project while training in Arizona for the NFL draft.
Researching Retiring Student Athletes’ Health Decline
Kump’s thesis focuses on the challenges athletes face when transitioning out of sport. Former athletes experience higher rates of obesity and depression than non-athletes, and his study aims to uncover why. He is recruiting athletes in their final year of eligibility up to five years post-sport to identify barriers and solutions.
“This project digs into the real barriers athletes face during that transition,” says Halliday. “It’s meaningful, timely, and much needed. Jaren chose a project that matters—not only to him, but to a lot of former student-athletes.”
This project forms one piece of a larger effort to explore what happens when athletes leave their sport. Through a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, the ultimate aim is to design a program that helps ease this transition.
“My project is exploratory,” says Kump. “We have some theories about why former athletes experience negative health effects, but we need to understand what’s really happening.”
Kump is collecting qualitative insights through sending out anonymous surveys. Later, another student will use this information to develop a deeper qualitative study and continue the work.
Kump says the faculty in the College of Health were angels, understanding and accommodating of his schedule and he couldn’t be more grateful.
For students considering the College of Health, Kump has simple advice: “Do it.”
