UCLA's Chris Joseph now a Rhodes warrior
The offensive lineman passes on the NFL draft as he sets his sights on a scholarship to Oxford. The rigors of the process are daunting to geography major with 3.95 grade-point average.
Chris Joseph's career is wandering down a road less traveled by other football players.
Several of his former UCLA teammates are wringing their hands this weekend, hoping their names are called during the NFL draft. If not, their quest to land a free-agent contract will begin.
But Joseph, a starting offensive lineman for three-plus seasons, is training to make the final cut for an even more exclusive goal -- a Rhodes scholarship.
So while Trey Brown, the Bruins standout cornerback, hopes to be yakking at NFL receivers this fall, Joseph is hoping to be a Yank at Oxford.
"I felt like it was my time to hang 'em up," Joseph said. "I still love football, but I didn't want it to consume my life anymore. . . . It was time for me to do other things."
And the Rhodes scholarship was the shiniest academic bauble out there for the 21-year-old geography major.
"I wasn't 100% sure what the scholarship was," Joseph said. "I knew it was a prestigious honor. When they told me what it would mean, it was very impressive. They will pay for post-grad education in a foreign country at the finest university in the world."
Besides, Joseph joked, "It's a chance to see the world on someone else's dime."
Earning that dime will involve as much, if not more dedication, than football.
Rhodes scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British-born South African businessman. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.
Only 32 students from the United States receive scholarships each fall. The selection process is done by 16 regional districts, raising the odds for a student from California, where more colleges mean more applicants.
"The numbers are really against you," said college football analyst and former USC quarterback Pat Haden, who was awarded a Rhodes scholarship in 1975. "Everybody thinks the Rhodes scholarship is an athletic award, but it is less athletically orientated then when I went through it. Athletics fulfills only one requirement that Cecil Rhodes set down in his will, pursuing manly pursuits, and that is very broadly defined. What it involves is having a really, really stellar academic career."
UCLA and USC have each had four Rhodes scholars, the most recent being Reed Doucette, a Trojans basketball player, who received the scholarship last fall.
