Buffs' Adkins One Of 10 From Pac-12 To Attend NCAA Career In Sports Forum

BOULDER — For years, football has been a central part of Michael Adkins II's life.

But it has by no means been the only part of his life.

Adkins has done his best to embrace the full student experience at Colorado. He has enjoyed success on the field — he's rushed for 1,175 career yards and is 42nd on CU's all-time rushing list — as well as off the field. A fifth-year senior, he has already earned his bachelor's degree in business and will finish his master's work next fall, and he has been an active participant in a variety of student leadership activities on campus.

Adkins has also participated in some high-level internships in the business world, experiences that have given him a look at what a future career might hold.

Last week, he added to those experiences when he participated in the NCAA's eighth annual Career in Sports forum in Indianapolis. Adkins was one of 230 student-athletes from around the nation and one of just 10 from the Pac-12 invited to participate.

"It was a great experience," Adkins said. "They helped us shape our personal and professional development and gave us insight into what it looks like to work in intercollegiate athletics. It was a process of defining who we are as a person and understanding our limitations — and how to improve on that."

The forum is designed to provide student-athletes with "a broader scope of the career tracks available within the sports business, with the primary focus on college athletics."

It is a career path Adkins said he is definitely considering — and for which he would no doubt have an outstanding perspective, given his time at Colorado.

Adkins has dedicated much of his "free" time at CU working on behalf of his fellow student-athletes, including working with CUs Diversity and Inclusive Excellence initiative. He has also served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has made it a point to to help student-athletes take full advantage of all the opportunities available on the CU campus.

"We've been working on diversity and inclusion efforts and bringing that more to the forefront and allowing us to continue to move forward with that process," Adkins said. "I've also been working on a couple of other things, and one of those is connecting our student athletes more to the campus.

"When you are a student-athlete, it's easy to put yourself in a separate silo and not explore all the options that are available. I want to help improve that interaction across the campus so people who might be minorities in the athletic department are able to connect with other minorities on campus and collaborate. You want to have a sense of being and a greater sense of home outside of just the athletic community."

It's not an easy task. Adkins is well-aware of the dedication and time commitment required to participate in Division I athletics.

"Being a student-athlete is a heavy demand," Adkins said. "This is what you do: it's your sport. You also have academics. You have to be able to find that balance and be able to do them all at 100 percent so when you're done, you're not looking back and saying you didn't really explore all the things that were available to you as a student."

Adkins encourages his fellow student-athletes to explore those opportunities — particularly those that could be helpful upon graduation.

"There are a lot of things on campus that we're not always aware of," Adkins said. "It's a matter of bringing that to the student-athletes so they can see there are other things that will help make us better people once we get out of college."

But the art of finding time for all those opportunities is not one that is easily mastered — and it is a topic that was discussed at last week's NCAA forum.

"You have to find the balance and learn how to juggle all the activities that are important to you," Adkins said. "You will probably have one thing that will be your ultimate goal, and that's good. But there are other things around that goal that you want to do as well. So how do you get there but still find a balance? It's like juggling balls — it's tough, but eventually you're going to get it. It can be done."

Adkins will play his final season of college ball in the fall while finishing up his master's degree at the same time. After that, his career path could point down any number of roads.

But wherever that path might lead, Adkins said one point of emphasis at the NCAA forum was to be prepared when an opportunity arises.

"It's a matter of being in the moment," Adkins said. "Throughout college, you are putting all these things in your box — all the books you read, all the hours you put in, all those things. What you have to remember is you are doing all these things so that when the moment comes, you can pick that out of your box and be prepared to take advantage."

BEST SEMESTER YET IN CLASSROOM — CU academic officials have finished compiling the spring semester grades and the results are outstanding.

For the semester, CU's student athletes recorded a 2.994 grade-point average — the sixth consecutive semester of at least a 2.9 (only seven have been recorded since CU first began keeping track) and the highest term GPA on record.

Of CU's 15 teams, 13 posted GPAs above 3.0, the most ever in one semester. All nine women's teams posted above a 3.0 GPA and 10 of 15 teams had a higher GPA in the spring of 2017 than in spring 2016.

Overall, CU's student-athletes now have a cumulative GPA of 2.970 — the highest cumulative GPA on record.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu