Ravens OL John Urschel retires days after CTE study to pursue Ph.D.

Baltimore Ravens lineman John Urschel retired from football on Thursday in what some are calling a surprise move.

The 26-year-old center, who served primarily as a backup for the Ravens last season, will be leaving the game and pursuing a Ph.D. at MIT:

Urschel’s decision comes just days after a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that examined the brains of 202 former football players across various levels of play — high school, college, professional, etc. — and found that 177 had CTE. The study went on to show that, of the 111 brains of NFL players examined, 99 percent had CTE. According to Jamison Hensley of ESPN, a team source said Urschel’s decision was directly related to the results of the study. All brains examined in the study were donated.

According to Hensley, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said he was surprised about Urschel’s decision and got the news just 90 minutes before the start of practice:

“That was out of the blue,” Harbaugh said. “He had been working hard. He was working on his snaps all summer. He was doing a great job. It was definitely a lightning bolt that way.”

Harbaugh released a full statement via Twitter this morning:

Urschel ended last season as the Ravens’ starter, so it’s a big hit for a team also dealing with an injured QB.

Before beginning his studies at MIT, Urschel graduated with a degree in mathematics from Penn State University, where he had a 4.0 GPA and earned two master’s degrees, according to Dustin Hockensmith of Pennlive.com. He was also included in the science category on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. It’s safe to say he’ll be just fine without football.