There are a number of options college athletes can pursue after graduation. The best of the best get a chance to earn a living playing their sports. Others pursue “regular” jobs, usually something that reflects their major in college.

Former SMU defensive tackle Mickey Dollens is trying to stray off the beaten path … or maybe slide off the beaten path. While his former teammates and classmates were relaxing with friends and family, or getting ready for job interviews, Dollens spent a day recently at the Michael Johnson Performance Center in McKinney, Texas … trying to earn a chance to make the U.S. Olympic bobsled team.

Mickey Dollens earned an invitation to an October combine in Lake Placid, N.Y (photo by Meagan Enriquez).

“I remember watching the 2010 bobsled events in the Olympics, and thinking, ‘that looks fun — I could do it, too,’” Dollens said. “I put it on hold, while I concentrated on football and until I graduated, but then I just decided to go for it.

“I went to the U.S. Olympic bobsledding website, and found the recruitment page. It had a list of combines and dates. Then I found a driver on the U.S. team, ‘friended’ him on Facebook and developed a rapport with them to get an idea of what (the team looks) for.”

McKinney was the site of one of 10 combines, in which the U.S. bobsled team sought candidates to become a “push athlete” for its teams. The candidates went through a gauntlet of eight tests that measured each candidate’s speed and strength, including a 60-meter sprint, a broad jump, a toss of a 16-pound shot put and weight lifting, including a clean (in which a barbell is lifted from the floor to the front of the lifter’s shoulders in one motion) and squat. Dollens thrived in the strength tests, cleaning 315 pounds and squatting three repetitions at 455 pounds.

To get ready for the combine, Dollens had to change up his training routine. To play on the interior of the defensive line at SMU, he worked to retain bulk, playing in 2010 at a listed 267 pounds, a weight that would be far too much for a bobsled team. He started working with trainer Rob Lord of The Alpha Project, a strength, speed and conditioning

“In the bobsled, the optimal weight is 220 pounds, and I went into the combine at 228,” Dollens said. “I owe a lot of the credit for what I have been able to do to Rob Lord, who also sponsors* me. After the football season, when I decided to go for this, I started working with him. In football, I was working to hold my weight (up). But now I had to drop weight. I dropped 53 pounds of fat and gained 14 pounds of muscle.

“The training was different, of course, for a different sport. I started doing heavy lifts, with fewer repetitions, and I got stronger. I also got more explosive — my vertical (jump) went from 26 inches to 33 in three months.”

The work paid off, as Dollens performed well enough to earn a trip in October to the Olympic training center in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he and the others who emerged from the 14 combines around the country will compete for spots on each bobsled driver’s team.

Dollens does not come by his competitive nature by accident: his father races speedboats and is a former Oklahoma state powerlifting champion, and his grandfather drove race cars and was the first Mr. Oklahoma (bodybuilding) champion. So before he heads east, he’ll go west, to a July 30 combine in Park City, Utah. Dollens already has qualified for the trip to Lake Placid, but will meet up with a driver in Park City to learn more about the intricacies of becoming a push athlete.

“I already qualified, but I want to improve on the numbers I put up in McKinney,” Dollens said. “I’m going to get down to 220 pounds, while getting more strength in my legs, and improving my 60-meter sprint and broad jump.”

While training to try out for the Olympic bobsled team, Dollens has dropped nearly 40 pounds from his playing weight (photo by Travis Johnston).

Most athletes who venture into another sport make the transition into another mainstream sport. That Dollens is branching out to a sport like bobsledding is not entirely out of character; while his classmates were pursuing their degrees and job interviews, Dollens founded a company, Hilltop Boards (hilltopboards.com), which produces innovative longboards (a form of skateboard) with custom graphics. He also was able to combine his interest in football with fondness for writing; Dollens, who graduated with a degree in English with a specialization in creative writing, started writing a book designed to help high school football players market themselves and get the attention of college coaches: Recruit Yourself Football Scholarships.

“When I played (at Bartlesville High School in Oklahoma), we won one game my senior year, and our coach was fired,” Dollens said. “But I kept detailed records of what I did, how I got my foot in door. I knew I had to market my abilities, not only to get my highlight tape in hands of coaches, but also to get them to watch it.

“A lot of kids get attention only from Div. II or Div. III schools, but some think that only attention from a Div. I school validates them as players. Not everyone will get one, but getting seen by the right coaches helps get a scholarship, and that’s what the book is about — how players can get themselves seen by the right coaches.”

For now, however, Dollens is focused on chasing his Olympic dream. He is eager to get to Park City, to improve his test results, and to Lake Placid, where he will try to impress the drivers and coaches in a sport he has yet to try.

“I heard it described as being like getting in a city dumpster, climbing to the top of the tallest hill you can find and going straight downhill. It looks smooth, but it’s supposed to be a pretty rough ride.

“I can’t wait to try it.”

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* Lord sponsors Dollens by training him for free. Olympic hopefuls have to collect sponsors, so if anyone would like to help sponsor Dollens as he goes after his dream of becoming an Olympian, please send a Private Message to PonyPride and to arrange contact with Dollens.