NC State fifth-year senior guard Bryce Kennedy already knows what his professional career will be when his playing days are over.
Kennedy interned with Deloitte, the largest international accounting firm in the world, last spring, and he has accepted a job with the company's Raleigh office in January. He’ll be part of a different kind of team, auditing companies that are clients of Deloitte. Kennedy will go from studying film of Miami in preparation for Saturday’s Senior Day to scanning financial statements with the same keen eye. The former Southern Pines (N.C.) Pinecrest High standout will be checking that public corporation's accounting information has been properly prepared and presented.
“You don’t want to invest your money into a company that didn’t have what they said they had,” the 6-foot-3, 305-pounder said.
Kennedy half-joked that he doesn’t have to worry about working on a mean face when he enters a company.
“Companies don’t like when we come in, but every company has to be audited,” Kennedy said.
Some players hope to leave with just a college degree, but Kennedy maximized his five years at NC State. He got his accounting degree as an undergrad with a 3.45 grade-point average. He’s now working to get his master’s, which he’ll finish up next May. Kennedy will be taking his CPA exam in February as part of his “continuous education.”
Not sleeping is the key to being a student-athlete, Kennedy said. He said sometimes he’ll get about four hours of sleep per night, staying up until 1 or 2 a.m. due to the daily time requirements of playing college football.
The mornings are dedicated to football. He’ll wake up at 6 a.m. and get his treatment in before practice ends around 11:45 a.m. He’ll rush to his classes that typically start at 1:30 p.m., and become a full-time student the rest of the day, though film study with the offensive line sometimes is mixed in.
“It is just busy days,” Kennedy said. “I don’t have time to hang out with my friends. There is no social life at all. I know what I got myself into and what I signed up for. If I wasn’t busy, it would feel weird.”
Kennedy originally verbally committed to North Carolina due to its medical school. However, he switched to NC State over the Tar Heels and South Carolina, and caught the accounting bug. The job market was a scaled down version of recruiting. He was offered a job by Deloitte last March and had a few other “offers.”
He didn’t need three hats on the table to verbally commit.
“It felt like a place where I could see myself,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t need to Tweet it out or anything.”
Kennedy will be relocating to the same Raleigh neighborhood as former offensive line teammate Tyson Chandler, which is another nice perk of staying in town for work. Kennedy, Chandler and former tackle Rob Crisp were close friends at NC State and text each other frequently.
Kennedy has played 118 snaps in 20 games, including one start during his Wolfpack career. He and fellow backup fifth-year senior center John Tu’uta have become good friends and have tried to help the Wolfpack program in ways behind the scenes. Tu’uta could end up having a career in the military.
“What is cool about both those guys is their roles here weren’t necessary starting roles, but they took a lot of backup reps, which takes reps from other players,” NCSU head coach Dave Doeren said. “They got their degrees. Tu’uta has been a tremendous leader in our weight room program for three years. He pushes guys in the weight room.”
Family members will be in full force to watch the 14 seniors play their last home game at Carter-Finley Stadium. Kennedy will have his parents, grandmother, aunt, two cousins, his best friends family and friends from Pinecrest all in attendance.
“I’ve been playing football since the seventh grade, but it will be time to move on,” Kennedy said. “I’ll miss football and will always love the game.”
The younger players always remember watching their older teammates' Senior Days. Kennedy saw respected offensive line leaders Joe Thuney, Quinton Schooley and Alex Barr break down emotionally last year. Kennedy predicts senior running back Matt Dayes could be the most likely of the 14 seniors to shed tears before playing Miami on Saturday.
“Everybody loves Matt, and he’s done great things for the University,” Kennedy said. “He definitely will get 1,000 yards rushing this season.”
Kennedy is hopeful to have three games left , which means the Wolfpack would have become bowl eligible, and he can feel some of his emotions starting to boil to the surface on what that means.
“It is going to be sad for sure, and I’ll be missing the environment and being around the guys,” Kennedy said. “All the running we’ve done together, plus the hard times and the good times.”
