Like many kids who grow up playing football, Isaiah Adkins (26) once imagined becoming an NFL player. Years later, the Athletic Training M.S. graduate has made it to the league — but in a role he never envisioned as a child. Now beginning a two-year athletic training fellowship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Adkins will help care for the players competing on the field he once dreamed of reaching.
Adkins’ path is similar to what football players call a pivot route: a receiver begins moving in one direction before sharply cutting back the other way. The route changes, but the player is still moving toward the opportunity to receive the ball.
For Adkins, that pivot began when he accepted that playing pro sports was unlikely, and then suffered an injury that changed his relationship with sports.
“I knew that I wasn’t gonna be playing professional sports anywhere,” he said.
Sports had been part of Adkins’ life since childhood. Growing up in San Diego with two older siblings who played sports and a father who coached, “it was just destined for me to play sports,” Adkins said.
He began playing football around age four and also participated in baseball and basketball. The moment that redirected his future came during a baseball game in his junior year of high school.
“So, I was stealing second base in a game, and then I heard a pop, and then come to find out, I fractured my hip,” Adkins said.
At the time, Adkins was also taking a sports medicine class. Experiencing an injury while learning about the professionals who care for athletes introduced him to another way he could remain connected to sports.
“Me getting injured and me being in a class sparked a passion — and now I’m here.”
The class showed him that his desire to care for others could become a career within athletics.
“Obviously, you gotta find your niche, and I knew that I wanted to care for people,” Adkins said.
He earned an associate degree in exercise science from Southwestern College, where he observed athletic trainers at high schools throughout San Diego. He then completed his Bachelor’s in Kinesiology with a Fitness Specialist emphasis before enrolling in PLNU’s athletic training program.
“Honestly, I think it was a great choice. It’s a great program,” Adkins said. “You learn from good people. You have good clinical sites with good preceptors to help.”
One of his favorite parts of the program was learning from preceptors with real-world experience who guided students while still encouraging independent problem-solving.
He credited Ryan Nokes, Ph.D., the program’s clinical education coordinator, and Arnel Aguinaldo, Ph.D., whom he first met at SDSU, with strengthening his professional knowledge.
Additionally, mentorship from Nicole Cosby, Ph.D. carried particular personal significance.
“I think she was tremendous to me, obviously because she’s been in the field for so long, but also she’s African American as well,” Adkins said. “So it’s just someone to relate to on that personal level.”
His clinical experiences also reinforced a philosophy of caring for others rooted in respect.
“In this field, you come across many people of different ethnicities, races, backgrounds, religions, so just trying to respect the individual for who they are,” Adkins said. “You never know what’s going on outside of the four walls you’re in.”
“Honestly, I think it was a great choice. It’s a great program. You learn from good people. You have good clinical sites with good preceptors to help.”
PLNU’s faith-based environment also supported him through the challenges of graduate school.
“There [were] a lot of ups and a lot of downs,” Adkins said. “Having professors that are willing to pray for you is also a big thing as well … because it’s not a lot of times you get to see that.”
That technical, personal and spiritual preparation equipped Adkins not only to work with elite athletes, but also to build the trust required to care for them well.
Adkins’ first opportunity to work in the NFL came through a summer internship with the Buffalo Bills.
Nathan Gravitz (25), a student a year ahead of him in his program, had recently returned from an internship with the New England Patriots. He helped guide Adkins through the NFL application process.
As he waited to hear whether an opportunity would open, Adkins tried to release the outcome rather than control it.
“Give it up to God,” Adkins said. “If he sees fit, then he sees fit.”
After an early-morning interview with the Bills, Adkins was offered the internship on the spot.
The experience gave him his first look at the preparation and care taking place behind an NFL sideline. It also cemented the vision of building a career in pro football into Adkins’ mind.
“I think that’s honestly what helped me get to the position where I am now,” Adkins said.
His current job is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where Adkins began a two-year athletic training fellowship after completing his graduate degree at PLNU.
In Tampa, Adkins joined an athletic training staff he described as both knowledgeable and close-knit. “Great minds to feed off of, very family-oriented,” he said.
A day in the life of an athletic trainer starts very early – he’s in the facility around 5:45 a.m. preparing the training room for the players.
“Athletes start flooding in,” Adkins said. “They do their morning treatments, and obviously they have meetings, and it’s our time to set up our practice field.”
“Honestly, there’s no slow. It’s always go, go, go,” Adkins said with a chuckle.
That pace reflects the staff’s responsibility to help players remain healthy and ready to contribute.
“These athletes obviously are getting paid to help this team win, so we want to keep them as happy and healthy as possible,” Adkins said. “So we do whatever it takes.”
Despite the intensity of the NFL environment, Adkins said his interactions with players often feel surprisingly ordinary.
“The players are great. They’re just like regular human beings,” he said. “We’re coworkers technically.”
Building relationships beyond treatment helps Adkins establish the trust athletes need to communicate openly. Even small conversations and cracking jokes build a powerful relationship and rapport with the players.
For Adkins, those relationships support the larger purpose behind his work: helping injured athletes return to competition.
“If I can see someone get back to post-injury, get back into the field of play, that means I did something to help them get to that point,” Adkins said.
Having experienced an injury that redirected his own future, Adkins now helps other athletes continue pursuing theirs.
“If I can see someone get back to post-injury, get back into the field of play, that means I did something to help them get to that point.”
With practices and games still ahead, Adkins has begun imagining what it will feel like to step onto the Buccaneers sideline for the first time.
He said he’ll likely step onto the field under the big lights, thinking, “Just like, wow … I did it.”
“After that, it’s work time,” he quipped.
On game day, Adkins will focus on helping players address their concerns and remain ready to compete. Although he did not reach professional football as a player, working alongside the team allows him to experience the game up close and personal.
“[I] definitely get to live vicariously through the players,” he said.
As he begins his fellowship, Adkins hopes his work can contribute to the Buccaneers’ success, and perhaps even a championship.
“To think that being on the staff that won the Super Bowl and then I have my own personal Super Bowl ring, that’s kind of surreal, but hopefully it can happen,” he said.
Adkins did not reach the NFL in the role he once imagined. But his career followed a pivot route, bringing him to the same league with a new purpose rooted in care of others.
