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The parallels between Alex Harrison’s current role and the one he’s preparing for as a student at RMCOEH aren’t lost on him. 

A senior offensive lineman on the University of Utah football team, he is responsible for protecting the quarterback from the occupational hazards of the gridiron: blitzing linebackers, brutish defensive tackles, blind-side hits. 

He chuckles and nods when asked how that compares with a career in occupational health and safety, which he plans to pursue when his days suiting up for the Utes are over. He said the similarities are striking — right down to the notion that the work of an offensive lineman, like that of a health and safety professional, often goes unnoticed until something’s gone wrong.

“When things go great, nobody's looking at you,” he said. “But when things go wrong, you're the first person everyone's going to blame. That's kind of the mentality that (offensive linemen) all take where it's like, ‘Hey, you know what? We're not here for the flash. We're not here for the fame.’ We know we're not gonna get it. And your mentality is you just keep your head down and work. And at the end of the day, we know that you can't be successful without us.”

Despite occupational health and safety’s similarities with his gridiron role, Harrison didn’t know anything about the field until a few years ago when he finished his undergraduate degree. He had not planned to pursue graduate school when he first enrolled in college, but with an opportunity to continue playing on the football team, he worked with his academic advisors to find a graduate program that would be a good fit. 

RMCOEH’s online Master of Occupational Health degree with an emphasis in occupational safety piqued his interest, particularly given his blue-collar background. He contacted RMCOEH graduate academic advisor Kat McColl and was struck by both the program’s flexibility — which would allow him to meet the demands of his football schedule — and the range of career paths in occupational health and safety. 

Over the course of his nearly two years in the program, he’s developed a passion for the field. The mission of occupational health and safety resonates deeply, and he sees an opportunity to improve the lives of others. 

“You don't ever want to see people get hurt,” he said. “When I worked construction in high school, I saw a couple accidents where I’d go, ‘You know what? That shouldn't have happened and that was very preventable.’ I mean, there's dozens of cases. I always joke that if I wasn't here, I'd be working construction. I'd be working low level in one of those fields right now. I would want somebody to protect me the same way so I could get home to my family. At the end of the day, everyone wants to go home, see their family, and be able to enjoy life without having to question, ‘Am I gonna walk away today?’”

Harrison, who is planning to complete his degree this fall, is eager to launch his career — perhaps in the oil and gas industry, where he has family connections — and set about turning his goal of helping others into a reality. 

But first, one more football season awaits, a final opportunity to wear the uniform of the team he cheered for while growing up in Bountiful. 

After helping anchor one of the nation’s best offensive lines in the 2025 season — when the Utes finished 11-2 and No. 14 in the Associated Press poll — he’s setting his sights high for his final season. 

Helping the Utes win the Big 12 championship in just their third year in the conference would be a crowning achievement. As would securing the team’s first-ever berth in the College Football Playoff after a couple of close misses in the last decade. 

Regardless of how the season unfolds, though, he will carry one lesson from his years in the Utah football program into his career: giving full effort every day and never settling for going through the motions. 

“You wake up every day and you have the option to just check the boxes,” he said. “It's a very bland way of living, just trying to get through the day, trying to get to my weekend. … I want to get up, attack every day, enjoy every day. And if you can get a lot of people who buy into that mentality, you can have a lot of success.”