After completing a grueling, cardio-intensive workout, Otule hits the weight room where he will throw around barbells and bend under plates that total upwards of 200 pounds, depending on the exercise. By the time he transitions from beast mode to student mode, he already did more with his day than most
Marquette students snoozing soundly under their bed covers.

Many only see the campus jock glory and colossal sports coliseums that showcase the seemingly innate talent of NCAA Division I athletes like Otule. They don’t see the rigorous
challenges confronting college sports’ most exclusive and lionized contingent.

How hard can it be? Let’s look at some figures.

There are 168 hours in a week. Assuming the average person nets the recommended minimum eight hours of sleep per night, 112 waking hours per week remain.

For students carrying the standard 15-credit schedule who study at least two to three hours per class each week, 45 to 60 of these hours are set aside for academics.

Out of the remaining 52 to 67 hours, DI student-athletes reported devoting 34 to 42 hours to their respective sports in 2010 in spite of the NCAA-sanctioned 20-hour weekly limit, according to the second edition of the NCAA GOALS study issued earlier this year.

Following this logic, the typical DI student-athlete may only have anywhere between 10 to 33 hours to spend on other activities such as running errands, working a job and — hopefully — bathing.

Sometimes, the inherent time constraints, conflicting priorities and mental and physical pressure threaten to devalue and even undermine a DI student-athlete’s education.

“I think basketball is stressful in a way; it’s all you think about, sometimes,” Otule said. “Sometimes, you might put school in the back even though you’re not supposed to, even though you’re supposed to say ‘School comes first.’ Basketball is so time-consuming, so sometimes you get stressed out, but you have to prevent yourself from breaking down.”

Alyssa Stevens, a redshirt senior on the track and field and cross country team and graduate student in the College of Health Sciences, is more than familiar with being stressed out. After redshirting her sophomore year of track and field due to injury, she decided to fulfill her last year of athletic eligibility as a graduate student in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program — a daunting feat she doesn’t think has ever been attempted by a Marquette athlete, let alone one involved in two varsity sports.

“Being a DI athlete is similar to being a student and holding a part-time job. You have required practices, meetings and races in the same way that you’d have a certain amount of hours at work that cannot be compromised,” Stevens said. “The caveat to that is the physically demanding aspect of being an athlete. It involves an almost constant state of fatigue from conditioning that you have to deal with in addition to being a full-time, successful student.”

Although Stevens joked that she doesn’t know what free time is, her facetious statement isn’t very far from the truth.

“My free time is almost non-existent. With the rigorous schedule of grad school, I actually consider practice my free time. Other than that, anytime I’m not in class or at practice I have to study. Even on weekends, we travel to races or we have Sunday morning practice that chips away at my free time.”

Although DI student-athletes face a formidable amount of physical and mental trepidation, research done by the NCAA shows they graduate at a higher rate than non-athlete peers. This trend persists at Marquette, where the latest graduation success rate amounted to 92 percent, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

“The graduating rate for Marquette student-athletes is greater than that of the student body, which is unusual because we’re an academically rigorous school, so it’s hard to graduate anyway,” said Maureen Lewis, student programs coordinator for tennis, track and field and men’s
soccer. “In nine years working here, I think I can count on one hand how many athletes I’ve had that were academically
ineligible. It just doesn’t happen that often; they’re pretty driven.”

These statistics help dispel the all brawn and no brains, dumb jock stereotype that often plagues the DI student-athlete persona. Lewis corroborated the graduation success rate data, explaining her best students are usually athletes.

“I think student-athletes, for the most part, are able to manage their time better because they’re already working a sizeable number of hours along with going to school,” Lewis said. “They’re usually very competitive both on and off the field and pretty motivated.”

Stevens, a living testament to the title “student-athlete,” validates this theory.

“I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t be as successful in the classroom. I get much more done on days that I have athletic requirements because I know I can’t waste time,” she said.

After challenging workouts that make her limbs quake and her mind glaze over from fatigue, Stevens admits she usually wants to do anything but her homework.

“That’s why you’re called a student-athlete, though. I wouldn’t be at
Marquette if not for my schoolwork, so that always comes first. If I’m unable to do schoolwork because of a workout, I’m
failing and I need to fix that ASAP.”

Although late night cramming on crowded Coach buses or planes, running until the second coming of breakfast and attending classes with eyeballs deadened by sleep deprivation might not seem like the ideal way to earn a degree, Stevens insists the end justifies the means.

“Being a DI athlete is the most rewarding experience I’ve had thus far in my life. It is worth every bit of the few hours free time. The friendships I’ve made with student-athletes that I see work to their limit to become better is extremely rewarding.”