Former Florida State football star Myron Rolle, who was a Rhodes Scholar and then enrolled in medical school, will begin a neurosurgery residency at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, he announced Friday.

Rolle, 30, played three seasons as a defensive back for the Seminoles, graduating early in 2008. He deferred an NFL career for a year to earn a master's degree in medical anthropology at Oxford.

He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2010 but never played a regular-season game in the NFL. In 2013, he returned to Tallahassee and entered FSU's medical school.

Myron Rolle starred at Florida State but never played in a regular-season NFL game. Next on his plate: a seven-year neurosurgery residency in Boston. AP Photo/Rob Carr

"Seven years of neurosurgery is a big deal, something I wanted for a long time, really excited about it. Today is just great, it's remarkable," Rolle told WCTV in Tallahassee on Friday. "... Saving lives and helping people live a better life, that's going to make life worth living."

Rolle had always spoke of his goal to become a doctor following his football career. He famously took a chartered flight in 2008 from Birmingham, Alabama, to College Park, Maryland, to participate in his Rhodes scholarship interview and then play in the Florida State-Maryland game.

Rolle's residency begins July 1.