EAST LANSING — Mark Scarpinato achieved his dream to graduate from Michigan State University and win a Rose Bowl, and now it's time for him to pursue his next goal in life and become a doctor.

Scarpinato learned last Friday that he has been accepted into the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and has informed the Spartans' coaching staff that he will not return to the football team.

"When I signed my letter of intent, my goal was to graduate from Michigan State and win a Rose Bowl,'' Scarpinato told MLive.com on Tuesday night. "I've achieved those things, and now it's time for me to move on. I called my dad last Friday and told him, and he told me he hasn't been this proud of me since the day I was born.''

Scarpinato played a vital role on a Spartans' defense that ranked No. 1 in the nation from the first game of the season up until the kickoff for the school's first Rose Bowl in 26 years, holding down a spot in a four-man defensive tackle rotation.

That's why it was hard for him to inform the coaching staff, even though he knew in his heart he was making the right decision.

"I went and told Coach (Dino) Folino (director of personnel, player development) and I was fighting back the tears,'' Scarpinato said. "I've played football since seventh grade, that's almost half of my life. And those moments on the football field, I remember knocking down a pass at Minnesota and the crowd roaring, I probably won't have a feeling like that again until I graduate from medical school.''

Scarpinato has known since attending Marquette University High School in Milwaukee that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor.

"I grew up going on rounds with my father, so when he was teaching at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I'd go around with him and see patients, and that started my interest in medicine,'' said Scarpinato, who graduated from Michigan State in three years with his degree in kinesiology. "When I was little he'd bring the surgical gloves and masks back home, and we'd operate on fruit. I'd always thought about that, and I've always wanted to help people, and being a doctor is a great way to do that.''

Scarpinato has undergone four surgeries himself — three of them in high school, and a final shoulder clean-up following this past season — so there's some irony in his choice to pursue the orthopedic field of study.

"I'll be the most empathetic doctor they'll ever meet,'' Scarpinato said. "I know how hard it can be to deal with those types of injuries.''

Scarpinato redshirted his first season at Michigan State, coming in fresh off labrum surgery.

"My first practice that season was bowl practice, and it was trying, after two shoulder surgeries and not being in very good playing shape,'' Scarpinato said. "My redshirt freshman year, I won Scout Team Player of the Week for the second game of the year and started to travel with the team and see what college football was really all about. But I didn't play a down.''

Scarpinato said the hiring of defensive line coach Ron Burton heading into last season was the turning point in his career.

"Coach Burton gave me a new lease on football,'' Scarpinato said. "It was invigorating when he came in, and I was ready for my chance. Coach Burton was uptempo on the field, and off the field you could talk to him about everything and he had the right answer for anything.''

Scarpinato worked himself into the two-deep in spring practice, and after a healthy summer of training, he earned a place in Burton's defensive tackle rotation.

"LT (Lawrence Thomas) was injured, and James Kittredge was injured, and I'll never forget Coach (Pat) Narduzzi coming up to me and saying, 'Make it happen,' '' Scarpinato said. "I ended up getting a start at Illinois and in the Big Ten championship game, and from where I had come from a year before, that was big to me.''

Scarpinato finished last season with 15 tackles, a tackle-for-loss, a sack, two pass break-ups, and three quarterbacks hurries, a success story like few others.

Now, Scarpinato says, there are great things ahead for his teammates and the incoming crop of defensive linemen who will sign with the Spartans on Wednesday.

"I can't wait to see this program win a national championship,'' he said. "These guys are my brothers, and I'll be back every weekend I don't have to study for an exam. I'll never get away from Michigan State.''

Scarpinato's departure leaves the Spartans with Damon Knox (junior, 2014), Brandon Clemons (junior) and Joel Heath (junior) bringing back the most experience to play the position.

It also frees up another scholarship, which Scarpinato was mindful of when he made his quick decision to chase his dream of becoming a doctor.

"I wanted them to have that scholarship,'' he said, "so they can go out and sign the next great defensive tackle.''

The Spartans look to be trying to do just that, with Enoch Smith Jr., Craig Evans and David Beedle already committed and Cincinnati's Daniel Cage still a possibility heading into signing day.

Scarpinato said whoever comes in to play defensive tackle will be learning from the best.

"The techniques Coach Burton taught us were amazing, and a big key was we all saw how hard he was willing to work every day,'' Scarpinato said. "His attitude and demeanor in every practice was great, and he always made practices exciting. We all had a fire in us, but as a coach, he was the one that lit that fuse.

"The fact that Coach Burton had been there and done it himself, as a player at North Carolina and in the NFL, meant a lot on those days you didn't want to run that last sprint, and Coach Burton could look you in the eye and tell you that he had been there before, and it was necessary.''

So now the world will be getting another doctor, one who has sacrificed to earn his way through the first portion of his collegiate education, and one who has been through orthopedic hardships himself.

There's just one thing, Scarpinato said.

"I don't think I'll be able to wear my Big Ten championship Rose Bowl ring to work,'' he said with a chuckle. "Those things are pretty big.''