Florida State's Joshua Kaindoh pushes outside football bubble with medical internship

Curt Weiler | Tallahassee Democrat

In just about any atmosphere outside of football, Joshua Kaindoh stands out.

Standing 6-foot-7, the Florida State sophomore defensive end gets noticed just about everywhere he goes, be it the classroom, out to lunch or at his unlikely internship.

On top of the packed schedule of a Division-I college athlete, Kaindoh has taken on an internship with the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association this summer.

Even though he has three years of eligibility left and a potential professional football career looming after that, Kaindoh is already planning for life after football and the lofty goals he has for that portion of his life.

He wants to be a doctor.

"He’s a very hard worker," Stephen Winn, Executive Director of FOMA and Kaindoh's internship coordinator, said.

"He’s very in tune with where he wants to be and how to get there. He has a good plan and we want to help him any way we can."

Although Kaindoh doesn't look to fit in physically in these professional atmospheres -- I saw him hit his head on a precariously low door frame and observed a young girl gawk at Kaindoh's impressive size in my afternoon in the field with him -- he's a natural there.

In an environment in which few his age and even fewer college football players would feel comfortable, Kaindoh looks at ease, explaining and educating the newly minted House Bill 21, which deals with opioid prescriptions, to professionals in the fields of medicine and law enforcement.

Kaindoh is quick on his feet with knowledge and impresses both his supervisor and the doctors he is educating on a number of occasions with how well he knows the bill.

Fateful field trip

Long before he realized exactly how far football could take him, Kaindoh figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

Dating back to a second-grade class field trip to Towson University in Towson, Maryland, he wanted to be a doctor.

He says medicine was the main potential profession that interested him on the visit which showcased a variety of potential jobs.

Then and there, he swore that he would become a doctor one day.

More than a decade later, this remains the case for Kaindoh.

"I always told myself that that’s what I wanted to do if I wasn’t playing football and I just want to stick with it," Kaindoh told the Tallahassee Democrat.

He's so set on this that he started at FSU as an exercise physiology major, the best fit to prepare him for the next step.

Kaindoh quickly realized that the requirements of this major would be too tough to balance with what is asked of a football player at FSU.

He's now a sociology major and minoring in biology, allowing him a less hectic, more online-centric curriculum which still gives him the credits he will need to be accepted into med school.

One doctor who Kaindoh and Winn visited on the afternoon I accompanied them in the field asked Kaindoh near the end of their conversation if he had an idea what he would want to specialize in and do with his medical degree.

That's a decision well down the line on Kaindoh's path, not made until one is well into med school.

Kaindoh expressed an appropriate amount of uncertainty for a decision so far into the future, but did express a few possibilities he is considering.

Orthopedics, the correction of deformities in the skeletal system, or working as a team doctor in a sports organization.

"He has a plan and he’s working very, very diligently to meet that plan," Winn said.

"The end of that plan is becoming a physician and I believe he’ll make that plan. No question in my mind."

Opioid Education

House Bill 21 was signed into law by Florida governor Rick Scott in March and the legislation went into effect on July 1.

It states that all physicians licensed in Florida must complete a two-hour course on the new law governing opioid prescriptions by Jan. 1, 2018.

The bill is aimed at better controlling opioid prescriptions in an effort to combat the fact that street drug usage has skyrocketed.

Due to the timing of Kaindoh's internship, this has become his focus.

He began by educating himself about House Bill 21, took the course all physicians will be required to take and made a Powerpoint presentation in order to educate others.

Kaindoh is very aware of the problem opioids have become across the country.

He's originally from the Baltimore area and one of his childhood friends now works as a firefighter in the area.

Opioids are such a rampant problem that all firefighters there now carry Narcan, a prescription drug that is used for the emergency treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose.

Police and fire departments across Florida have begun to adopt similar policies.

Each week, Kaindoh visits a wide range of professionals such as doctors, medical associations and law enforcement officers with Winn and presents on the importance of the bill, informs them why it was made law and answers any questions or doubts they may have about the bill.

It serves as somewhat of a symbiotic relationship.

Kaindoh teaches them about the program and the bill while the doctors offer back advice and guidance about the profession in return.

Through the internship, Kaindoh has met and talked with Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young, people working at the Florida Capitol and doctors in settings that range from pediatricians to osteopathic doctors to rural clinics.

"Without this, I would have probably never done any of those things," Kaindoh said.

"It’s just a great opportunity."

Outside the football bubble

Like any football player at a major college, Kaindoh's schedule is packed.

Up at five most mornings -- he's in the 6 a.m. lifting group -- Kaindoh's days even during the offseason are filled with classes, weightlifting sessions and offseason workouts run by FSU's strength and conditioning staff.

And yet, he has made his way to Winn's office for his internship twice a week this summer.

It's the only time of year Kaindoh could possibly pull off something like this and he makes no secret about how important he believes it is.

“Very (important). There’s more than football," Kaindoh said.

"Doing this kind of proves that I don’t have much time, but I’m still taking the little extra time that I have when I could be doing literally anything else because it’s my time. Going in and interning, trying to better myself as a person."

A new emphasis of Willie Taggart's at FSU has been getting players outside the football bubble and engaging them in things that will better them as a person in addition to their on-field improvements.

"We think when you talk about overall development and when you’re talking about the ascent to greatness, all the characteristics that we think will help people become great aren’t only on the football field, but also off the field," FSU's Director of Player Development Trae Hackett told the Tallahassee Democrat.

"It is connecting these guys with the resources in Tallahassee and around Tallahassee, beginning to help them grow. We believe that this really builds value in them. Regardless of whether you’re going to the next level in athletics or your career, you’re a well-rounded individual."

"At the end of the day, we just want these men to be the best versions of themselves. Coach Taggart really believes in exposure and experience and that’s what we really want to provide to our student-athletes.”

Kaindoh is not the first FSU football player to participate in an internship under Winn.

In fact, a former player reached out to Hackett shortly after he arrived in Tallahassee to inform him about the opportunities Winn could provide.

Hackett reached out and coordinated the internship for Kaindoh.

Although Kaindoh is not the first football player to come through Winn's doors, he is the first who was interested in a medical track.

Winn has previously welcomed in players who are more interested in the criminology or political science tracks.

Former FSU quarterback EJ Manuel fell into the latter category.

Manuel interned with Winn later in his collegiate career while also serving as FSU's starting QB.

The hot topic during his tenure were pill mills and marijuana and Manuel was introduced to a long list of people such as Florida Governor Rick Scott in a professional setting.

Former FSU defensive end Toshman Stevens was in a criminology internship under Winn and now serves as a parole officer in Gadsden County.

Current FSU offensive lineman Derrick Kelly specialized in criminology as well with Winn, as did former FSU offensive lineman Kareem Are, who graduated in 2016.

The obvious comparison to Kaindoh is former FSU defensive back Myron Rolle.

After a prolific career for the Seminoles, Rolle was named a Rhodes Scholar and spent the 2009-10 academic year studying at Oxford.

Rolle made a brief stint in the NFL and has since gone back to med school at FSU.

After graduating in 2017, Rolle is now a neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Kaindoh was quick to name Rolle as a role model when he came up in conversation.

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Life after football

In addition to the medical side of things, an additional aspect of a football player's internship with Winn that he insists on is a visit to a local school.

There, he asks the player to address a group of players about how they should have a plan for the rest of their life after football is done.

"I’m starting to realize that Florida State is the NFL team here. Everybody looks up to them, everybody loves FSU, everybody loves FSU football," Kaindoh said.

"I’m pretty sure that if we go say at least one thing to these kids, they’ll probably remember it forever.”

Added Winn, "I always say to these young men, 'Where are you going to be in five years? Seven years? That’s all well and good, but god forbid you get hurt, you may not be there so what’s our backup plan?'”

“I believe that between Coach Taggart and Trae Hackett, they’re going to make sure these kids have that other side to them which, to me, is critical. That way they can make their own minds up.”

Kaindoh is the only FSU player currently interning with Winn, but he's not the only one who took on an internship this summer.

FSU offensive lineman Alec Eberle has been working on a farm, Corey Martinez has interned with Culpepper Construction and FSU tight end Tre' McKitty obtained the information to begin his pursuit of a pilot's license, which will be facilitated through FSU's Student Services Department.

Kaindoh's desire to attain an idea of what he wants to after football extends far beyond himself.

He sees football as something that can give him a platform to do good in a number of other areas.

Now he's working hard to try and help some of his teammates realize this and use it to their benefit.

"The guys on the team see this too. Maybe somebody will do the same thing," Kaindoh said.

"It's right there. You've just got to grab it."

Kaindoh's playing career may be far from over. He entered FSU as one of its top 2017 recruits and has real NFL potential as he pushes for a starting spot in 2018 after earning ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors for his four-sack performance against Delaware State.

Still, he remains just as focused on what his life will hold when football comes to an end.

"Football has brought me here, football has done so much for me, but it’s kind of like just using football to go to school for free, but the next step would be using this to get to med school.”