David Bruton knows more than just football.

While the NFL lockout labors on, the Denver Broncos safety kept busy by taking a job as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Miamisburg, Ohio.

Bruton, who taught social studies and math beginning in April at Jane Chance Elementary School and Miamisburg High School – his alma mater – said working with kids has been tougher than chasing down wide receivers scampering for the end zone. He said, “You go around, helping them out individually, and you’re constantly using your brain, especially teaching stuff that you – in my position – haven’t done in six years.”

Keeping up with the elementary school students also wore him out more than two-a-days. Bruton, who majored in sociology at Notre Dame, said he would often play kickball with his students during recess, noting, “I came home, and I passed out. I didn’t walk my dog. He was just sitting there, laying, barking. I was dead.”

While Bruton’s decision to mold young minds may not fall in line with the image of athletes, Bruton says they often get a bad rap, adding, “An athlete is not just a bad guy who happens to have a big checkbook. Some guys have a lot of heart and desire, and stuff that they’re made of are different from what people see.”

[NPR]

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