Former Alabama running back Glen Coffee had a brief NFL career, strangely retiring after only a single season with the San Francisco 49ers.
As it turns out, Coffee said afterwards, he wanted more from life than the fame and fortune afforded to NFL players.
"I don't want to sound mean or attack the NFL, but I'm not an entertainer," Coffee told the Sacramento Bee after his abrupt retirement. "I see football as being the same as being a singer, being a dancer or something along those lines. When we fill out our W2s, we're in that category of entertainers, man. That's not me. I want to be doing something to better myself, to better someone else. Glen Coffee's not an entertainer."
On Friday, Coffee will graduate from Airborne School at Fort Benning (Ga.) with his eyes set on becoming a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
“I know my motivation and I know my focus,” Coffee told al.com. “I just felt like being in an elite unit would pretty much weed out anybody who didn't have the drive and focus that I believe I have. I feel like if I make it in [Special Forces], that guy to my left and my right is somebody I could depend on with my life and vice versa.”
Coffee said he has no regrets about leaving Alabama early or retiring from football. And after drifting somewhat aimlessly for the last few years, it appears the 26-year-old has found his calling.
“I've always considered myself a warrior, somebody who would fight for what he believed in,” Coffee said. “It hit me like, ‘What do you think the military does, and what do you think the military is full of?' Warriors. All of a sudden, I had this respect for the military, and I just realized that there is no America without the men and women who serve this country.
“I figured that if I'm able, the Lord's blessed me with an able body while I'm young, to get out there and get dirty.”
