Just months after he played in his final college football game, Pete Winovich sat and watched the NFL draft with his close friend and former Bowling Green University teammate, Kory Lichtensteiger.

Lichtensteiger was picked in the third round by Denver. Winovich wasn't selected, essentially ending his football playing career.

You might expect that to be difficult to swallow for Winovich, who has been playing football since the seventh grade.

But with his signature confidence and determination, Winovich dodged that blow the way he once dodged would-be tacklers on the football field at Thomas Jefferson High School.

"I have bigger aspirations," he said.

Bigger aspirations than the NFL?

Winovich is finishing up his studies and will earn a degree in financial economics this August. He hopes to make an even bigger splash in the world of finance than he did on the football field.

That kind of confidence comes as no surprise to those who have followed Winovich through the years.

It was that kind of attitude that made him one of the most successful and popular players in the history of TJ football.

Before he graduated in 2004, Winovich started at quarterback and outside linebacker for three years. The Jaguars were 30-5 during that time.

It was on offense where he was most explosive, finishing with 4,421 career passing yards, 44 touchdown passes and 15 rushing touchdowns.

He was recruited by a number of schools but ultimately chose Bowling Green -- largely because it reminded him of TJ

"One of the reasons I picked Bowling Green was they said, 'We're family.' At TJ, we were a family, and that was the biggest thing I wanted."

Another reason he selected Bowling Green was the chance to play as a freshman, a wish he was granted.

Winovich was recruited as a quarterback but was playing behind Omar Jacobs -- a college standout who eventually would spend time with a handful of NFL teams, including the Steelers.

"I said, 'Forget this, I want to get on the field," recalled Winovich.

So he switched to tight end and was on the field for his very first college game, an away contest at Oklahoma.

Winovich went on to play in every game as a freshman.

He was moved to linebacker for his sophomore season and played in 11 games and made 27 tackles.

He was moved to fullback for his junior season and was the starting fullback as a senior.

During his time at Bowling Green, Winovich played in two bowl games and, as a senior, received the school's Coaches Award and Top Victory Club Performer honor.

It was a successful college career that began in his first game, but playing as a true freshman was bitter-sweet for Winovich.

"Now I wish I would have redshirted," he said, candidly.

While the majority of college athletes redshirt their first season (an adjustment year when a player is part of the team but doesn't play in games, giving him freshman athletic eligibility as sophomore), Winovich was immersed into game action immediately.

"But, because I never redshirted, I was always playing catch-up," he said.

Winovich was close with the other players in his recruiting class, and because he was playing as a freshman while they redshirted, the majority of them are preparing for their senior season at Bowling Green.

"It's weird because I'm done, but a lot of my buddies are still playing," he said. "Seeing them still out there makes is so much harder."

With the scheduling demands of Division I football, it's rare for players to graduate with a bachelor's degree in four years -- another major academic advantage of a redshirt year.

Winovich managed to catch up by taking summer classes and is now just two courses shy of his degree. He will finish up in August and graduate, then it's onto the business world.

He hopes to work as a financial planner.

But the 6-foot-3, 248-pound Winovich admits the NFL was in the back of his mind, though he always kept that goal in perspective.

"Going into my senior season, I told myself that if anybody from the NFL approached me I'd be open to it," he said. "But I didn't want to be one of those guys hanging on, trying to make the practice squad somewhere. That's not me. I thought that if I didn't make it, I could find something better to do."

That something better to do is a career in finance, but Winovich plans on staying involved in football in some capacity.

"I think every football player has a little bit of an aspiration to go back and coach at his high school or college," said Winovich.

He will start on that this summer, coaching with his brother's football team in PHARA. When he gets a permanent job, he plans to look into other coaching opportunities.

As Winovich moves on to the next phase of his life, away from college football and into the business world, he reflects on his playing career with pride -- especially his years as a TJ Jaguar.

"I'm so proud of what TJ has accomplished the past five years. It's almost unreal," he said. "Coach (Bill) Cherpak, what makes him such a special coach, he always talked about when you graduate and you're done, the only thing you have to look back on is your memories and the tradition.

"He would say to the team, 'You aren't playing only for yourselves, you're playing for everyone else out there in the stands who used to play here or is going to play here.' Anybody else who has played at TJ understands that tradition. I'm proud I put by brick in there and built a little bit of that road."

(Photograph of Pete Winovich courtesy of Doug Sampson.)