On the field, his job is to “hit 'em in the mouth,” as football coaches like to say, but off it, Sean Jeppesen would like to make sure mouths are healthy and cavity-free.
The Panthers' senior linebacker plans to follow his football career and bachelor's degree from Georgia State with a trip to dental school.
Flashing his own set of pearly whites, Jeppesen says, “I love teeth.
“I've always known I wanted to go into medicine of some kind,” he continued. “My dad is a nuclear pharmacist. He makes the radioactive dyes used in an MRI. I went to work with him and watched him make the stuff in his lab and that got me interested in medicine.
“It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I decided I wanted to go into dentistry. I shadowed our family dentist and I loved it. Since then, I've shadowed probably four other dentists. I do that every summer.”
An adult has 32 teeth, a number that is just slightly higher than the number of positions Jeppesen has played at Georgia State.
The Fortson, Ga., native is a poster child for perseverance. After graduating from Harris County High School, he had no scholarship opportunities but did have an offer to be a preferred walk-on at Division II West Georgia. However, when he arrived there, he was told there was no spot on the team for him, so he spent his first season as a student manager.
In the spring of 2011, he enrolled at Georgia State and went through walk-on tryouts. The tryouts were grueling, but Jeppesen earned a spot on the fall roster. He spent the 2011 season as an anonymous member of the scout team, practicing against the starters but not seeing any game action.
“I played scout team receiver the entire season,” Jeppesen recalled.
“In the offseason, I worked out like crazy and got bigger, so in the spring they moved me to tight end because they didn't have anybody there behind Emmanuel [Ogbuehi].”
By 2012, Jeppesen had worked his way into a more prominent role. His position coach at tight end, Craig Harmon, was also the special teams coordinator, and Harmon saw Jeppesen's hustle and willingness to hit people at full speed.
“I think I owe everything to Coach Harmon,” Jeppesen said. “He's the one who let me play special teams and actually get on the field. He let me play every special team, and I loved it.”
With head coach Trent Miles and his staff in place for 2013, Jeppesen had to prove himself all over again and learn a new position at fullback.
That lasted nine games before Jeppesen moved to inside linebacker for the final three games of 2013 to ease depth problems. In the season finale against South Alabama, he scored a touchdown on offense and made three tackles on defense.
In the offseason, Jeppesen moved full-time to defense, lining up at inside linebacker alongside Joseph Peterson. But following an injury to Mackendy Cheridor, Jeppesen is now filling in at outside linebacker.
Jeppesen reeled off the various roles he has filled. “In a game I've played running back, fullback, tight end--last season at Alabama--receiver, plus all four linebacker positions -- will, mike, sam and rush.
“On kickoff I'm usually in the middle so I can run down the field and hit people,” Jeppesen explained. “Kickoff return, I'm usually in the back, setting up a wedge. Punt, I'm trying to go hit the shield. On-side kick team, I'm the one who tries to blast the guy who's going to take the ball. Hands team, I'm on the front line to hit whoever is coming to get the ball.”
Notice a theme here? Obviously Jeppesen likes to hit people. But he'll make sure he doesn't knock out any teeth.
