I just had to steal the title of my post from NFL.com's piece about one of last year's great success stories, Packers RB Samkon Gado, whose ultimate goal isn't the NFL, but becoming a doctor:

Gado will continue to play American football, but his offseason work at Green Bay's Bellin Health hospital is not a public relations stunt. He didn't tell patients who he was as he pricked tricky veins to capture blood samples or helped them go to the bathroom.

The experience reinforced something Gado has known since a high school biology class piqued his curiosity: He was meant to practice medicine.

Gado took pre-med classes at Liberty, a Baptist university in Virginia founded by the Reverend Jerry Falwell.

Gado figured real-world experience was the next logical step. But he didn't want his newfound stardom to get in the way, so he went undercover.

"I really just wanted to blend in," Gado said. "I wasn't doing it for show. I didn't want people to say, 'Oh, look at this Green Bay Packer working.' I really wanted the experience. And I'm going to do it again next year."

Too many young people who play football but also have dreams of big careers, like law or medicine, shelve the latter in favor of the former. Gado, though, appears to be willing to do whatever it takes to reach his goal, and not just on the field. And he's willing to do it without any celebrity status whatsoever.

What about on the field?

Improvement, no doubt, will be demanded as well by the Packers' new coaching staff. Although Gado had three 100-yard rushing games last season -- including 171 yards against Detroit -- he is struggling to pick up the new offense. Coach Mike McCarthy offered only lukewarm praise during last weekend's minicamp.

"He is experiencing some frustration," McCarthy said. "He's going to keep working. He obviously has a lot of potential. He needs to continue to get better."

Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport, whose injuries propelled Gado into the lineup, will return this season. Gado won't complain if he ends up second or third on the depth chart, but he isn't resigned to the bench.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "I am going to fight for that spot."

Some team would do very well to pick up Gado from the Packers and make him a #2 RB. Perhaps the Jets or the Texans. But in the long run, it won't matter. Someday, while folks like Alex Smith, Braylon Edwards, and Matt Jones are hawking cars or gloves or pizza, Gado will be practicing medicine, and that's something for which we should all be proud of him.

Besides, if you had him on your fantasy team last year, you probably already know plenty about him. Like the fact that despite his fumbles he still racks up lots of positive yards, TDs, and points.

Josh Cohen writes for three sites across the Wizbang! network, but makes his home at Multiple Mentality