hile Harvard is known for its extensive and successful alumni network, professional football players, like proud Crimson alum and nine-time NFL Pro-Bowler Kyle Juszczyk ’13, find themselves in one of the few industries where a prestigious Harvard degree does not earn them any favors.

Juszczyk, nicknamed Juice, is one of only ten Crimson football players ever drafted into the NFL, a challenge that stuck with him early in his career. However, through hard work and determination, he became the star fullback for the San Francisco 49ers.

‘A Bit Like an Outsider’

“You do feel a little bit like an outsider,” Juszczyk said in an interview with The Crimson as he reflected on his early days in the NFL. “I remember earlier in my career, there wasn’t a day that went by that the fact that I went to Harvard didn’t come up in some capacity. With my teammates, with my coaches. If you got an answer right in the meeting, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, of course, the guy went to Harvard.’ And if you got an answer wrong, it’s like, ‘Ah, come on, Harvard.’”

“I felt like it was used against you in most scenarios in the NFL,” he added.

The disadvantages of being a Harvard football player were not exclusive to those who chose the professional route, but for all who hoped for a more prominent football culture.

“Deep down, we all wish we had kind of that appreciation from the professors and the student body that you see for these Big 10 schools or SEC schools where the stadium’s packed out and everybody loves the football players,” Juszczyk said. “We didn’t necessarily have that same experience, and I think, deep down, we all kind of are a little jealous of that.”

While Harvard is not renowned for its vibrant football culture, the team has had successes in recent years.

Despite its first-round exit in the FCS playoffs, the 2025 Harvard football team had one of its greatest seasons in over a century, recording a 9-1 regular season and notching its first postseason appearance since the 1920 Rose Bowl. Led by star senior quarterback Jaden Craig, the team has also shared a slice of the Ivy League Title for the last three years.

The Crimson’s dominance this season drew attention from all over the country, including from Juszczyk.

“I’ve been quick to brag around the locker room that Harvard is undefeated, top 15 in the country,” Juszczyk said after the Crimson’s 9-0 run earlier in the season.

“I have some buddies in the scouting industry that said [Craig]’s a legitimate NFL prospect,” he added. “I love anytime we have a Harvard player that has an opportunity to play in the NFL.”

This year, the Crimson suffered its only loss in the regular season to its hated rival, Yale. Juszczyk, who finished his time in Cambridge with a 4-0 record against the Bulldogs, offered his insight into what the rivalry looks like for him inside the professional league, where fellow Ivy alumni are hard to come by.

“For most of my NFL career, I haven’t really had that opportunity to have that college rivalry with a teammate. But when I got to San Francisco, Mike McDaniel, our offensive coordinator and run game coordinator, went to Yale.”

McDaniel, who is currently the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, first coached in San Francisco. While the two Ancient Eight alums overlapped, the Crimson and the Bulldogs split the nation’s oldest rivalry, with two wins and two losses.

“Each year, we had a bet, and the loser had to wear the other team’s helmet to our Friday practice. He had to wear my jersey and helmet and call plays at practice on Fridays, and then there was a year or two where I had to wear a Yale helmet to practice, and we got some good laughs from it.”

The two enjoyed a rare opportunity to experience an Ivy League rivalry together, considering there are only nine active Ivy Leaguers in the NFL. Harvard and Yale, the league’s historic rivals, notably dominate that statistic, as the Crimson and the Bulldogs’ programs combine for seven.

However, Juszczyk’s career proves that Ivy League alums are more than capable of excelling in the NFL, despite the league’s unique emphasis on a well-rounded academic and athletic experience.

The fullback played football at Cloverleaf High School in Lodi, Ohio, where he earned All-Suburban League and All-Medina County honors as both a junior and senior.

‘I Wasn’t Highly Recruited Out of High School’

Despite his success in high school, the future two-time NFC Champion came to Harvard as an unranked, zero-star prospect.

“Quite honestly, it was my best football option,” Juszczyk said as he reflected on his choice to join the ranks of the Crimson. “I wasn’t highly recruited out of high school.”

“At the time, Harvard was consistently putting one guy into the league, whether it was just as a practice squad player or an undrafted free agent,” he explained. “Guys were making it to that next level.”

“Deep down, that was always my goal. I wasn’t really gonna tell anyone that, I wasn’t shouting down from the mountain peaks, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go to Harvard so I can make it to the NFL!’ But deep down, that was really kind of what I was thinking.”

At Harvard and under the tutelage of then-Head Coach Tim Murphy, Juszczyk knew that he could earn a coveted spot in the NFL while also securing a valuable diploma.

“Having that degree, in my mind, was really kind of a backup plan and something that I could fall back on,” Juszczyk said.

‘From a Country Town in Northeast Ohio’

In the fall of 2009, the Medina, Ohio native made the trip to Cambridge, Mass., where he moved into Thayer Hall in Harvard Yard to kick off his freshman year.

“I was from a country town in Northeast Ohio, I had experienced basically zero diversity whatsoever, and I got on Harvard’s campus, and there were people from all over the world, which was totally new for me,” Juszczyk said of his transition to life in Cambridge.

In addition to adjusting to the basic social and academic culture at Harvard, freshmen on the football team, like Juszczyk, have to grow accustomed to grueling two-a-day practices through training camp, all while learning an entirely new playbook and managing rigorous classes.

“Having to handle a full slate of being a Division I football player now, it’s just ramped up so much from being a high school football player,” explained the fullback.

Thankfully, as he familiarized himself with life as a student athlete at Harvard, Juszczyk was surrounded by the right kind of people.

“To this day, some of my closest friends are my Harvard teammates. I consider a number of them my best friends in the world, groomsmen, who I still keep in contact with every week. We’ve got our own fantasy football league, we’re all in a bunch of different group chats.”

Playing primarily as a tight end in college, Juszczyk amassed an impressive 1,576 receiving yards as well as 22 touchdown receptions. Three of those touchdown receptions came in a 2012 loss to Princeton, when, despite the loss, Juszczyk tied Harvard’s record for touchdown receptions in a single game. In that same game, the then-tight end hauled in 15 receptions, tying the Crimson’s record for the second-most receptions tallied in a single game.

‘I Really Grew to Love It’

Ultimately, Juszczyk says that it was being surrounded by his Harvard teammates that helped spur him to his two First Team AP All-Pro selections in the NFL.

“That was one of the special things about going to Harvard, I was surrounded by a bunch of like-minded young men that had a lot of work ethic, a lot of goals. You have to be a special type of person to play football at Harvard to be able to handle the academics and the athletic side of a Division I program,” Juszczyk said.

“I think being surrounded by other people who had those same lofty goals as yourself fostered some really special relationships and some really great friendships,” he added.

While earning three All-Ivy League selections at Harvard at the tight end position, Juszczyk lived in Pforzheimer House as an upperclassman, which is located a distant 1.6 miles from the Crimson’s Athletic Complex and its famous stadium.

“My roommate and teammate, I remember he cried on the day that we found out we went to Pfoho,” recalled Juszczyk, laughing.

Though there were no electric scooters at the time to make the journey from the Quad to Harvard Stadium easier, Juszczyk ultimately felt fortunate to be placed in the home of the Polar Bears.

“We had bikes, and luckily, one of the upperclassmen had a car. I actually grew to love the Quad because we were in Jordan all three years, so we didn’t have to share a bedroom. We had a nice room all three years there, so I really grew to love it.”

Juszczyk, who concentrated in economics, revisited Cambridge this summer, having the opportunity to visit his alma mater for the first time in thirteen years and relive some of his favorite eats.

“I loved Hong Kong, and I love Felipe’s, and of course, Noch’s was a staple,” said Juszczyk. “Kong and Wings over Somerville, I probably ordered one of those two every single night for my last couple of years.”

Juszczyk played all four seasons in Cambridge under Murphy, who led the Crimson from 1994 until his recent retirement in 2023. Juszczyk attributed much of his success in the NFL to his time under Murphy.

“One of the biggest things that Coach Murphy preached was time management, and it’s such an undervalued skill, and I think it’s something that is really, truly necessary if you want to be successful in anything,” Juszczyk said, acknowledging his desire and determination on the Harvard football team.

“He always said, ‘Each day you could choose between three things: athletics, academics, and social life. But each day you can only pick two of those, and otherwise you’re not going to have time and you’re going to be spread too thin,’” recalled Juszczyk, “So, I remember that being a strong skill that I got from my time at Harvard, being able to prioritize things and being able to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to be dialed in, I know I can only do football today, no matter how bad I want to go do something else. This is what I need to do if I want to be successful,’ and I feel like that helped me for the NFL.”

‘A Great Chance to Play in the NFL’

Even after a tremendous college career, where he earned First Team AP All-American honors while leaving Harvard as the school’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdown catches by a tight end, Juszczyk still faced an uphill battle to get into the NFL.

“Because I’m only 6’2,” I just wasn’t gonna be recruited as a tight end in the NFL. Typically, you gotta be 6’3”, 245, that type of build to be taken seriously as an NFL tight end,” Juszczyk said.

He would also suffer from the sheer lack of national media attention on Ivy League Football. In 2025, there were a total of six nationally Ivy League football games broadcasted on television, three of which Harvard played in. The SEC, the FBS conference that routinely sends the most players to the NFL, had 64 nationally televised matchups.

Despite successfully adjusting to become comfortable within Harvard and the greater FCS level of play, Juszczyk would again have to adapt to pursue his NFL aspirations.

“I remember after I met my agent, he’s like, ‘You have a great chance to play in the NFL, but in order to get drafted, you're going to have to go as a fullback.’”

Because of this advice, Juszczyk played the fullback position for the first time in his career in the 2013 Senior Bowl, an annual all-star college football game in Mobile, Alabama, where top senior players from across all levels of college football showcase their skills to NFL scouts.

“That’s how we kind of got our foot in the door, into the NFL. It was really at the Senior Bowl that I was able to set myself apart and show that I could play at that level. Playing in the Ivy League, nobody really knows how you’re going to do once you’re playing against that higher level of talent. And so I was able to go to Mobile and play really well against all these other big-time schools and big FBS players.”

Juszczyk’s experience playing linebacker, quarterback, running back, tight end, and wide receiver in high school helped his versatility on the field and his ability to change positions. The Pro-Bowler credits Murphy for helping him develop into such a versatile player, one who is not only athletically talented but also has the IQ to be effective anywhere on the field.

“The transition was good. I’ve always kind of been all over the field, and as a fullback, I get to continue to do that. So I was always comfortable moving around.”

His performance in front of scouts at the Senior Bowl helped spur him to a fourth-round selection in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

“The quickest way to earn respect on the NFL team is to go out there and make plays, and nobody cares where the heck you came from,” said Juszczyk, whose first career Pro Bowl appearance with the Ravens in 2016 earned him a new free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers. “You could’ve gone to Alabama, Ohio State, or some DIII school, but if you can go out there and consistently make plays, not make mistakes, and just be a reliable player, people really don’t care where you’re from.”

Now, nine Pro Bowls later, it’s hard to argue that the undisputed best fullback in the league hasn’t proven himself as a successful player. His four years in Cambridge, filled with Ivy League football and a grueling Harvard course load, certainly helped pave the way.

“Branching out and going off to Harvard by myself, without a doubt, made me the man who I am today.”