Lions’ Carey goes deep in Bible studies

Detroit — A couple years ago, Lions safety Don Carey was reading the bible and repeatedly saw the word “scripture.” Not knowing exactly to what that was referring, Carey began a mission to learn more about the sacred text.

He started meeting at the Southfield home of Glenn Harris, a rabbi who leads a Messianic congregation called Shema Yisrael in Bloomfield Hills. After some time studying with Harris, Carey decided he wanted to study the text deeper and enrolled at Moody Theological Seminary and Graduate School in Plymouth last year.

As of a couple weeks ago, Carey said he was about 40 credits from receiving his Master’s degree in Old Testament theology.

“If the Lord blesses me with more time on the field, it’s going to take a while,” said Carey, who appears to be a lock for the 53-man roster due to his position versatility and special teams skills. “If by circumstance I’m not playing in the next few years, then I’ll knock it out in less than a year.”

Carey, 28, is entering his fifth season with the Lions, playing a varied amount on both defense and special teams since 2011. He’s also been a regular in the team’s bible study group during his time in Detroit.

Last year, he said he began taking classes in spring 2014, and even though he took the summer off, he had one course during the fall last year. Although it’d be hard for some players to balance any major commitment on top of football, Carey said he had no issue. He said he plans on taking two classes this fall.

“It’s not really difficult when you put your priorities in place,” he said. “Some guys when they leave here, they study the film and then they play games. Some guys like going out, some guys like to hang with family or chilling.”

For Carey, he simply finishes his football duties then heads to class. Even though the Master’s degree could set him up for many job opportunities after his football career, he said he hasn’t thought about what he’d like to do with it.

“I just want to be prepared,” he said. “Right now, I’m just fulfilling my own desire of learning more. If that leads to something else down the road, then so be it.”

jkatzenstein@detroitnews.com

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