Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football

For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child developed into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing a college-level calculus course. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he felt in the classroom. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life. While he was an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, he pursued his PhD in mathematics at MIT.

Weaving together two separate narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life - whether on the field or in the classroom - and reveals how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together.