After a promising stint playing college football, The Rock quit to pursue a career in wrestling. Why did The Rock give up on his NFL dream?
Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson played professional football – Now that Young Rock Season 2 is set to follow The Rock's football career, many fans really want to know why Johnson quit playing football. As Johnson was born into a wrestling dynasty and became a household name through his role in WWE, it's all too easy to forget that the superstar's career was far from the ring. However, as Young Rock Season 2 will undoubtedly show, the end of The Rock's football career was actually caused by a number of unfortunate circumstances.
The career success of The Rock has taken him a long way from his football career. While he's at the pinnacle of Hollywood's A-list right now, Johnson's football playing time wasn't as successful (though still pretty impressive). After attending the University of Miami on a full football scholarship and playing for the Miami Hurricanes national championship team, The Rock signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.
The Rock's time in the Canadian Football League was short-lived, and they were cut only two months into the season. Instead of continuing a football career, Rock turned to wrestling, landing himself in WWE, which groomed The Rock to become an action movie star. Exactly why Rock's football career ended is a combination of factors, but perhaps the biggest reason was the multiple injuries he suffered as a result of the game. According to The Rock, he suffered a complete shoulder separation (requiring total reconstruction), a torn Achilles heel, and five separate knee surgeries. With so many serious injuries in just a few years of college football, it's probably no surprise that The Rock decided to quit.
With The Rock now becoming the superhero Black Adam, it's hard to understand him as anything less than supernatural, but some of his older teammates weren't overly impressed by his football talent. Former NFL superstar Warren Sapp played with Johnson for several years, and he described his football talent as "six out of ten". However, Leon Cersei (10-year veteran of the NFL) thought The Rock was better than Sapp's ratings, but instead was unable to shine due to the level of talent surrounding him.
Johnson's former coach Ed Orgeron is full of praise for Johnson, however, describing him as "a hard worker and a humble youth", adding that "everybody liked him. He was easily trained and everyone was impressed by him". Though recently, The Rock has found his ideal superhero role in Black Adam, but he's had to go through a few career shifts to get there. While The Rock's football career was short-lived, it was not a complete failure, and stepping away from the sport was undoubtedly one of the best decisions made by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. That said, there is no doubt that going away was not entirely his own decision, given his difficulties with injuries.