Neuroscience or NFL?

The following is an excerpt from Eric Adelson's feature on YahooSports.com:

Imagine what Laken Tomlinson can do with his time in the year ahead.

The offensive lineman from Duke will be selected into the upcoming NFL draft. He'll move into a new city and a new tax bracket. He'll have new teammates and friends. He'll have a new place to live, probably a new car too.

And what does he like to do with his time?

"A lot of reading," he says. "Research. If it's something about neurology, concussions or the brain, I'm in it."

Tomlinson has a different view of time than most of the rest of us. He has been this way for years, going back to middle school when he picked up football after moving from Jamaica at age 10. At Duke, his typical day started at 6 a.m. He went to practice, sat in team meetings, got back to his dorm to shower, went to class all afternoon, studied until midnight and then watched film. And if time permitted, he would go to Duke University Hospital and shadow a neurosurgeon during rounds. Maybe he'd even watch a spinal surgery, a mammoth man looming around the operating room. Five hours of sleep was plenty, perhaps above average for Tomlinson.

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Players Mentioned

Laken Tomlinson

Duke information