Nick O’Leary hemmed and hawed for a few years before he committed to reenroll at Florida State.
His decision was motivated by two factors.
The former Seminole All-American in football wanted to fulfill a promise he made to his mother. And set an example for his young children.
“If one day I am telling my kids they need to graduate, and I don’t have my degree, what good is that?,” O’Leary said.
“It’s a good thing to cross off.”
Ten years after his playing days at FSU, O’Leary, 31, will graduate this weekend with a degree in Sociology. While he won’t attend the ceremony, the North Palm Beach native is proud of his accomplishment.
O’Leary was 30 hours shy of his degree when he reenrolled in 2023, when he also served as a student assistant coach for the offense under coach Mike Norvell.
O’Leary said he learned the importance of time management between football, online courses and married life.
“Getting back into the grind of having to do that work again – doing it was the hard part but you don’t have a choice,” O’Leary said.
“You have to get it done and get it done on time.”
FSU football star Nick O’Leary one of the all-time greats at tight end
O’Leary, one of the program’s most heralded tight ends, if not the best, helped the Seminoles win the 2013 national championship during his junior season.
He was a consensus All-American and the school’s first John Mackey Award winner, presented annually to college football’s most outstanding tight end, as a senior. O’Leary, also known as a devastating blocker, finished his four-year career with with 114 receptions for 1,591 yards and 18 touchdowns in 54 games under coach Jimbo Fisher. O’Leary’s marks in receptions, yards and touchdowns are school records by a tight end.
In the NFL, O’Leary played with the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars and ended his career in 2020 with the Las Vegas Raiders. He finished with 53 catches, 668 yards and four touchdowns.
O’Leary returned to Tallahassee and joined Norvell’s staff last year, helping on offense and with the tight ends. O’Leary enjoyed the experience but admitted it was time-consuming. The Seminoles went undefeated and won the ACC Championship, but were left out of the College Football Playoffs. They lost to Georgia in the Orange Bowl without a majority of their star players who opted out of the game.
“Coach Norvell is doing an awesome job,” O’Leary said. “It was a good experience. The coaches and kids really work and grind. … Getting snubbed like that (CFP) wasn’t any fun, though. Everyone saw what happened.”
O’Leary also pointed out how much college football has changed since he played. He saw into the worlds of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), describing it as “a new time” and one “where things need to be figured out.”
The grandson of golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, O’Leary has returned to Palm Beach and is working with Nicklaus Design. An avid golfer, O’Leary has enjoyed the opportunity to learn the elements that help create a great golf course design. While at FSU, he played Seminole Legacy Golf Club, which underwent a comprehensive renovation of its golf facilities by Nicklaus Design.
“I jumped into his (Nicklaus) world of golf design and I want learn and work my way to see where it takes me,” O’Leary said. “I’ve played a lot of golf. … I want to see how the golf courses are made and what you think about when you are designing them.”
Here are Florida State football Nick O’Leary’s honors
2011 College Football News – Freshman All-American – Honorable Mention
2013 CBS Sports – 3rd Team All-American; Lindy’s – 3rd Team All-American
2014 American Football Coaches Association – 1st Team All-American; Associated Press – 1st Team All-American l Walter Camp – 1st Team All-American ; CBS Sports – 1st Team All-American; SBNation.com – 1st Team All-American; Scout.com – 1st Team All-American; Sports Illustrated – 1st Team All-American; Football Writers Association of America – 2nd Team All-American; The Sporting News – 2nd Team All-American; USA Today/Sports Weekly – 2nd Team All-American; NCAA – Consensus All-American Source: Nolefan.org
Florida State football schedule 2024
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Aug. 24 vs. Georgia Tech *Dublin, Ireland at noon., ESPN
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Sept. 2 vs. Boston College at 7:30 p.m., ESPN
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Sept. 14 vs. Memphis
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Sept. 21 vs. California
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Sept. 28 at SMU
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Oct. 5 vs. Clemson
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Oct. 18 at Duke
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Oct. 26 at (U) Miami
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Nov. 2 vs. North Carolina
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Nov. 9 at Notre Dame
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Nov. 23 vs. Charleston Southern
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Nov. 30: Florida
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Dec. 7: ACC Championship
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Nick O’Leary graduating from Florida State 10 years after football days
