LARAMIE – University of Wyoming redshirt junior offensive lineman Patrick Arnold, who started 10 games for the Cowboys over two seasons, has opted to retire from football and instead pursue his master’s degree in physiology, he announced on Twitter on Saturday afternoon.
Arnold, an Omaha, Nebraska, native, started six games in 2019, four at left guard and two at right guard. He started four games in 2018 after redshirting his first season on campus in 2017. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physiology during the spring, and hopes to be an orthopedic surgeon focusing on knees and hips in the future.
“It’s something I had to think a lot about,” Arnold told WyoSports. “But at the end of the day, this was best for me. I knew I couldn’t be 100% bought in if my mind had to be elsewhere.”
Arnold said he informed teammates and coaches of his decision to retire Monday. He will have his school paid for through working in a labratory as a teaching assistant. He said he had the choice to both play football and complete his master’s degree, with his school paid for through academic scholarships. But, at the end of the day, Arnold said he didn’t see a future for himself in professional football and wanted to devote his full attention to his studies. He said it took him about three months to make the final decision to devote himself solely to academics.
Being away from football due to the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Arnold to think more clearly and make a decision based on rationale rather than emotion, he said. Arnold took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) earlier Saturday before announcing his plans on social media.
“It’s nothing coaches did or any problem I had with the team ... it was just time for me to do my thing. I always saw myself as an academic,” Arnold said. “With this new opportunity, it didn’t really make sense.”
Arnold was the No. 9-ranked player in the state of Nebraska in the 2017 recruiting class, and was named All-Nebraska first team as a senior at Gretna High. As a high school athlete, Arnold suffered a serious knee injury that had him contemplating whether or not he would have a college football career at all. But his orthopedic surgeon coached him through it and helped him, quite literally, get back on his feet. Arnold hopes to be able to do the same for someone else.
“I’ve been around a lot of injures like that. It would be great to be the guy who’s gone through it,” Arnold said. “I just want to be able to return that for some kid in the future.”
Arnold’s loss is a hit to the Cowboys’ depth, but with starting guards Eric Abojei and Logan Harris and starting center Keegan Cryder returning, it won’t be insurmountable. UW also returns guards Zach Watts (five career starts) and Gavin Rush (22 career starts) to fortify an offensive line that is expected to be among the best in Mountain West and returns eight players who have started multiple games.
Under first-year offensive line coach Bart Miller in 2019, the Cowboys thrived in the trenches and were named to the Joe Moore Award midseason honor roll, an honor given annually to the best offensive line in college football. UW averaged 256.7 yards per game on the ground and allowed just 21 sacks in 2019 despite issues under center and injury issues up front.
“Football blessed me with incredible opportunities,” Arnold said. “A lot of people are going to be seeing my decision and be saying, ‘He has two years left, that’s something that people dream of.’ (But) I’ve always believed it incredibly important to be truthful to yourself.”
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