From Punting To Private Equity

New England Patriots Punter Zoltan Mesko isn't just sitting on his couch, watching "The Price Is Right," and practicing punting during the offseason. He's actually working at a private equity firm, Graham Partners, a Philadephia-based private equity firm, writes ESPN's Mike Reiss. Mesko picked up day trading, and started reading business books, and through a connection at the University of Michigan, got an internship with the firm. Mesko was drafted by the Patriots out of Michigan in the 5th round last year. Reiss interviewed the Patriots punter about the opportunity. "It's kind of like I'm the rookie again here," said Mesko. "I'm kind of staying quiet in the meetings, but maybe if I can do this for a few years in the offseason, I can start to contribute a lot more. Right now, just like my rookie season, I'm learning." Graham Partners has more than $1.5 billion under management, and focuses on middle-market manufacturing companies. "I'm still doing the training stages right now, I'm getting the hang of it," he said. "Sometimes I'll go home at 9 or 10 at night, just because there is so much work to do," Mesko said in the interview. Mesko started in March and the plan is to be there until June, when he hopes to have a better idea of the NFL lockout. Mesko said that he hopes that this can turn into a career after the NFL is done. "The day after football ended, I just looked at my schedule, and there was nothing on it. I was like, 'What do I do now?' I felt somewhat worthless," Mesko said. "I wanted to become productive again, and this was the kind of opportunity I looked into had my rookie season gone a little downhill. I kind of just thought about it, and I was kind of thinking that the lockout would be a definite possibility, and who knows how long it would go on for?" "It's going to end one of these days, and I want to land on my feet and get going right off the bat," he said. "I always want to feel productive no matter what I do, and I always enjoy a challenge, whether it's football, private equity or something else. I enjoy it, because I know the hard work will pay off."