Drew Boyd ready for next chapter, enters Medical School this fall

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - “I’ve had rare better feelings in my life,” said Drew Boyd.

The former Southern Miss pitcher not talking about a win, but rather his acceptance into medical school.

“And I opened it and was like ‘Is this what I think it is?’ And I clicked it and it said you’ve been accepted into University Mississippi Medical Center.”

But the road to an acceptance letter wasn’t easy because being a DI student-athlete with aspirations of attending medical school meant jam-packed days and sleepless nights.

“You know you’re not used to flying and getting back at 3 a.m. and having to go to an 8 a.m. class or go to take an 8 a.m. exam or go to practice and workouts for a combined five or six hours a day then go to class for another five or eight hours a day,” Boyd said.

The Oak Grove graduate having to make sacrifices along the way in order to juggle baseball and school.

“When we’re on the road and we’re in a hotel when guys are going out to the mall just to go eat or something or watching a movie or just playing games in the hotel,” Boyd said. “You know, I had to be in the lobby, just getting my five to eight hours of studying in that day and people were just kind of get tired of coming down to the lobby and see me with my nose and a book again.

“Just a real student of the game, “ said USM coach Scott Berry.

And now Boyd’s last name will switch from the back of a jersey to the front of a lab coat - something the captain’s wanted for as long as he can remember.

“And the teacher is handing out little color worksheet pamphlets and it says ‘What’s your name, favorite color, and what do you want to be when you grow up?’” Boyd said. “When I was asked what do you want to be when you grow up, I always put doctor in that little slot and that’s just never really changed.”

Which is why one day last fall when Boyd received his acceptance into UMMC, he was overwhelmed with emotion.

“That was one of the best feelings of really my life,” Boyd said. “Just knowing that those months and years of hard work and balancing everything just paid off.”

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