Seventeen seasons in the NFL has earned 6'7, 295lb linebacker, Julius Peppers some rather big paydays in the NFL. It also didn't hurt being a 9x Pro Bowler and 3x First-Team All-Pro nominee to help him secure some of those large checks. Peppers played his collegiate football at the University of North Carolina from 1998-2001. While winning the Lombardi Award, Bill Willis Trophy, and Chuck Bednarik Award for his performance in football, Peppers also played on the school's basketball and even participated in the Final Four. Peppers ditched basketball in his final season and currently is ranked second all-time in career sacks at the institution.
After outperforming his peers in college, Julius Peppers was drafted 2nd overall in the 2002 NFL Draft by his home state Carolina Panthers where he played a total of ten seasons in two separate stints with the franchise. Out the gate, Peppers signed a seven-year, $46 million contract with the Panthers. Which proved to be beneficial for all parties involved after winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002. In 2010, Peppers signed a six-year contract worth $84 million with the Chicago Bears. After four seasons in Chicago, Peppers signed a three-year $26 million contract with the Green Bay Packers. In 2017, Peppers returned to Carolina where he would play two more seasons before retiring in February 2019. With close to $80 million paid to him by the Panthers alone, Julius Peppers is still on the team's payroll in the business operations department.
Most of your favorite celebrities either studied acting in college or went straight from high school into a life of the arts. But, hey, not all of them. Some celebrities actually have advanced college degrees.
Turns out Mayim Bialik is just as much of a genius as the one she plays on The Big Bang Theory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.
Little known fact: Natalie Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was studying for her high school exams. She had two papers published in scientific journals while she was still in high school, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Psychology.
Before he was looking for answers on X-Files, David Duchovny was just trying to find the answers for English finals at Princeton University90. David graduated from Princeton in 1982 with a B.A in English. He continued to feed his love of literature by receiving a master’s degree in English Literature at Yale University. David was an excellent writer and poet. His work consistently received praise by his fellow classmates and teachers at Yale. His writing was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets.
Sigourney Weaver graduated from Stanford University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in Literature. It was while studying at Stanford that Sigourney realized her true passion in life was to become an actress. Shortly after graduation, she attended Yale for their well-known drama program. She would go on to receive a master’s in Acting from Yale University and become friends with fellow famous actress Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is considered one of the most successful actresses of all time. She is also one of the most highly educated. Before collecting an array of Oscars, Meryl collected diplomas. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1971. Meryl has a habit of being unsatisfied with impressive accomplishments as her acting career has shown, so she attended Yale University and earned a master’s degree in Acting.