The latter half of the term student-athlete didn’t go as well as the first half for former Kansas University football center Dylan Admire, a 4.0 student. Now Admire is ready to get down to business, as in starting one of his own.

Admire encountered multiple injuries while trying to add mass and strength to his 6-foot-3 frame and decided last August to surrender his final two seasons of football eligibility to concentrate on developing knowledge elsewhere, specifically in the areas of nutrition and strength and conditioning.

Admire said his new Lawrence-based business, A Nutritious Meal, will open Monday. On the business’ website, anutritiousmeal.com, Admire lists himself as “owner and head chef.” Customers will order from among nutritious options, and on Sunday nights he will deliver a week’s worth of meals to his customers in Lawrence and Topeka.

Admire graduated from KU in December, 2014, with a major in sports management and a minor in business. He said he relied heavily on lessons learned in class to begin the process of turning an idea into a reality.

“The first thing I did was put together fixed costs and variable costs, because if it wasn’t going to be profitable, it wasn’t going to be a worthwhile venture,” Admire said.

After it passed his smell test, Admire took advantage of free one-on-one counseling from Will Katz , director of KU Small Business Development Center. He learned from Katz how to go about paying sales tax, how to take advantage of tax exemptions possible, how to land proper certifications, etc.

“There are a lot of little things that, if you don’t do them right, someone’s going to come after you,” Admire said. “There are a lot of forms that are not the easiest to fill out just to get everything finalized.”

Admire found a kitchen to lease, underwent inspections to land a license and sounds ready for liftoff.

His KU education was paid for based on his football potential, which enabled him to get started without the student loans that strike fear into so many recent college graduates. After finishing his football career, Admire worked on the strength-and-conditioning staff for KU football and track and field. He also worked under the athletic department’s sports nutritionist, Aaron Carbuhn.

Admire’s an example of how much one gets out of an athletic scholarship often correlates with how much he or she puts into it. Playing time isn’t always the reward. Ideally, the rewards have more staying power than meaningful but fleeting athletic feats.