MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Life after college football can be difficult for players, filled with uncertainties and often no answers to a dreaded question: What's next?
For years – in some cases, decades – players depend on football for everything. It's their means to go to college; for some, an escape from a former life with no positive ending.
But, what happens when players exhaust their collegiate eligibility and don't see a clear next step?
A former Middle Tennessee defensive back is trying to help those players find a transition.
Joe E. McClendon III, a former defensive back who played for the Blue Raiders from 2000-01, is the chairman, founder and league president of the National Gridiron League, a spring indoor football league set to begin play in 2019.