Who Is Blake LaRussa? College Quarterback Quits School To Attend Seminary

Most college football quarterbacks who forgo their senior year do so because they hope to enter the NFL draft. For Old Dominion's Blake LaRussa, he is leaving school to join a seminary.

LaRussa, a finance major, made the announcement Wednesday through a statement by the school.

"It has been an incredible journey with Old Dominion football, but I would like to announce that I will be moving on from football after I graduate this spring and will be going into full-time ministry. This fall (2019) I will be going to seminary school to start my Master’s of divinity. I am so grateful for all my coaches and teammates who I have grown so close with these past four years," the statement read.

LaRussa gained national attention in September for coming off the bench to lead the Monarchs over then-No. 13 Virginia Tech, 49-35, throwing for 495 yards and four touchdowns.

After the upset win, head coach Bobby Wilder praised LaRussa for his attitude.

"You always want to see good things happen to good people. Well, a great thing happened to a great person," Wilder said about LaRussa in a press conference.

LaRussa's performance against Virginia Tech made him one of the biggest underdog stories of the college football season.

He would later earn a Conference USA honorable mention, throwing for 3,015 yards and 19 touchdowns over 11 games. It was an impressive accomplishment for the redshirt junior, who is undersized for a quarterback at 5-foot-10 and had to walk on to the program.

After playing high school football at Bishop Sullivan Catholic School, located just 20 minutes away from Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, LaRussa did not have any college scholarships waiting for him.

After making the Monarchs' roster, he was barely on any college football expert's radar entering the 2018 season — playing in five games in 2017 and sparsely seeing the field in 2016 as a freshman for a school known more for basketball than football.

LaRussa told Old Dominion's official athletic website that he loves football but that it was time to move on.

"This is something that I just feel God wants me to do. And it's something I want to do. Waiting another year to start just didn't make sense," he said.