Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu returned to his alma mater at the University of Southern California (USC) and completed his degree in History. Polamalu took part in a ceremony with over 1,000 students on Friday.

Polamalu was drafted after his senior season in 2003, but didn’t have time to complete his degree. The 30-year-old Polamalu posted his thoughts about the graduation on his website:

“I’m thrilled to announce that on this cool, sunny Friday morning I donned a cap and gown, walked across the stage in the beautiful Alumni Park at University of Southern California, and was handed my diploma. I’m officially a USC graduate! While I feel excited and fulfilled, that’s not really what I want to focus on in this message — I want to talk about the reason behind my decision to go back and finish what I started.

The majority of top picks in the NFL get drafted before they complete their college education. I truly love football and it’s such an immense blessing and privilege as an athlete to be given the rare opportunity to use those talents at the highest professional level, but it’s certainly not a replacement for an education. So I decided to finish what I started and walked that stage today not only because it was very important to me personally, but because I want to emphasize the importance of education, and that nothing should supersede it.”

Photo Credit: Troy43.com