GPC students with professional football dreams

Published: The Collegian (http://www.collegiannews.com), January 2008

Mike Meegan is a GPC student attending the Dunwoody campus with hopes of spring boarding to the University of Georgia, with a football scholarship. A history major, he is working hard to make it academically. He is knowledgeable about physical training and is using his expertise to build his physical condition to make the UGA football squad.

A native of Tampa Bay, Florida, Meegan earned a spot as a walk on, on the Florida International University football squad as a redshirt freshman. Despite a shoulder injury, Meegan toughed the first season out, only to be cut after FIU changed its head coach. Since then, he has been on a journey that landed him a spot on the Atlanta Heat semi-professional football team and living with his father here in the Atlanta area. Meegan did a three-month stint with the Heat, but now is working on making the grades at Perimeter in order to make it to UGA and beyond.

Meegan and friend and fellow former Atlanta Heat player and Florida native, Matt Grey, both have hopes to play college football in Georgia. Grey is a political science major, who is also studying at Perimeter’s Dunwoody campus. Grey, a former Georgia Southern student and football player, has been debating about whether to play for the Canadian Football League (CFL) or to take a possible position on Georgia Tech’s team as a redshirt. The CFL is a lucrative, potential road to the NFL, but does not offer the security that earning a college degree offers. With the prospect of earning six figures immediately, playing for the CFL offers a strong incentive. However, an education at Georgia Tech, which he is already working towards by studying at Perimeter, seems to outweigh the notion of playing for the CFL for Grey.

Grey and Meegan hope to take full advantage of their talent and abilities on the field and the classroom. Both of these men are attempting to transition from Perimeter to a four-year university, college football, and maybe a professional career in the sport.