Graduating college is no small accomplishment. It takes years of hard work, building hours upon hours of studying from the time you are in preschool all the way until you are walking on graduation day, ready to throw your cap into the air. Once that happens, it becomes highly unlikely that you'll find that same cap again. It often gets lost in the shuffle.
That is exactly what Arizona Cardinals guard Senio Kelemete is trying to avoid. The fifth-round pick just received his degree in American Ethnic Studies from Washington University, but the hard work is yet to come.
You see, while Kelemete was graduating, the rest of his new teammates were on the field practicing, digging through their playbooks and building chemistry with one another. He knows he has some catching up to do and that his work has just begun. Fortunately, he seems to be up to the task.
"I know definitely over the weekend I'm going to be in my playbook, trying to catch up with everyone," Kelemete told reporters. He figures that it will take him somewhere between 2-3 days to get into the swing of things.
"Obviously I was up in Washington, but my mind was still out here," he said. "I was just trying to go through plays in my head and (think) stuff through."
Kelemete is one of many players around the NFL that have gone through this type of circumstance. Andrew Luck, the first pick in the draft and new quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, found himself in a similar situation, stuck in Palo Alto at Stanford.
Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt seemed to mirror Kelemete's sentiments, stating that he has a lot of work to do in order to keep up with the pace.
"When you go against our defense and what they do... and you're seeing all the different things, the different looks, the stunts, the gap pressures, those kind of things, it's hard to look at it on film and know what's going on. It's going to be a little bit of a learning curve for him."
Getting used to the schemes will be a tough adjustment and getting into NFL shape could prove difficult as well. Luckily for Kelemete, he is a smart guy. After all, he did just graduate from college.
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