Illinois alumnus Rashard Mendenhall is retiring from the NFL at 26, and I think his decision is inspired.

Before I read Mendenhall’s explanation appropriately titled “Why I retired at 26” in the Huffington Post, I thought it was a ploy for attention. Maybe he felt overlooked and anxious when his contract with the Arizona Cardinals expired, and this was a last-ditch effort to ignite enough attention to merit the interest of a new team.

Or maybe he was done.

Now I accept the latter explanation. I didn’t know Mendenhall professed himself as a writer, and I was pleasantly surprised as I read his blog posts. He is articulate and relatable, and apparently finished with football. It is because of his writing that I understand why.

The Skokie, Ill., native was a staple of Illinois football in the mid-2000s. Running backs have found success at Illinois, and Mendenhall was one of the greats.

Illinois fans will forever remember Mendenhall’s 2007 season, especially his 79-yard touchdown run against USC in the Rose Bowl. He earned first-team All-Big Ten and Offensive Player of the Year accolades and was a Doak Walker Award Semifinalist — an honor awarded to the top running back in the nation. He was also a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award, which goes to college football’s player of the year.

Mendenhall left school a year early and was drafted No. 23 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Illinois football was probably pretty proud.

But after five years with the Steelers and one with the Cardinals, Mendenhall is choosing to walk away from the NFL — from fame and fortune and also from a constant place in the spotlight — and he seems pretty fine with it.

In his blog for Huffington Post Sports, Mendenhall explains the constant criticism associated with playing on the professional level of sports. Because of his mild demeanor and varied interests, Mendenhall was often regarded as seeming apathetic to football.

“People in the sporting world have sometimes questioned whether or not I love the game of football. I do. I always have,” Mendenhall said. “I have always been a professional. But I am not an entertainer.”

This is an important distinction in a sporting society where fantasy leagues sometimes seem to take precedence over the actual sporting event.

Professional sports are a forum for entertainment, with athletes acting as players on an international stage. And for a mild-mannered man who professes a love of literature and travel, Mendenhall was done playing the part of macho athlete.

We’ll never know how much of Mendenhall’s somewhat elaborate explanation for his retirement reflects his true reasons for leaving football. But if we take him at his word, Mendenhall holds his right to a personal life in higher esteem than a place in the public eye.

He played football because he loved it, not because he wanted to be on the cover of magazines or have the coolest touchdown dance. Though, I’m sure those things weren’t scoffed at when he was new to the NFL.

Mendenhall thinks football has changed, and while I agree, change in professional sports isn’t a new concept.

Technology turns the gridiron into a stage for millions, and social media makes athletes more accessible to fans. But in the 1940s, when sports were first broadcast on television, or in the 90s when the internet began to play a role, athletes had to adjust in the same way.

Professional sports will continue to evolve and athletes along with it. They are entertainers as much as they are athletes, and Mendenhall seems nostalgic for a time that never was. Professional athletes have always been in the public eye.

So while Illinois fans will miss watching Mendenhall on Sundays, it seems that he made the right decision for the life he wants to lead.

Football was a phase. He got everything he wanted out of it, and now it’s time to move on.

Aryn is a senior in LAS. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @arynbraun.