Justin Pratt has flip-flopped his priorities the past couple years as he juggled athletics and academics at Carnegie Mellon University.

"Football was truly my No. 1 goal coming out of high school," said Pratt, a junior who graduated from Bethel Park High School. "I still take football really seriously, but I know I'm going to make a career in engineering and not football. My freshman year it was a shock how demanding college is.

"Now I understand how to manage my time. There are only so many hours in a day and you have to focus on the classroom when you're not spending two-three-four hours a day playing football. You can't take time off, like lying on the couch watching television or just hanging out.

"We hear stories about kids going out and having fun on weeknights while we're studying after football. And I know kids travel on weekends ... we can't because football takes up our weekends."

Not that Pratt is complaining.

"I love football and I know how important studies are," he said. "Carnegie Mellon has both good athletes and good guys in the classroom. We help each other on the field and off the field because we're all struggling at both.

"You think it would be the opposite, but a lot of people actually do better during football season because you have to manage your time better."

Pratt, a 6-foot, 215-pound fullback, is doing much better on the field this season than he did his first two years when he rushed for a combined total of 57 yards on just 17 carries. He leads the Tartans with 453 yards rushing (4.0 average) and nine touchdowns in addition to six pass receptions for 24 yards.

"This is the first time I've been healthy and now physically I can do what I'm able to do, what I did in high school," said Pratt, who hurt his lower back in preseason camp last year and was never free of pain during the season.

"I knew I wasn't going to play as a freshman because we had seniors in front of me, but I was going to play a lot last year and then I got hurt. My first two years were kind of frustrating. I might have lost a step, but mentally I'm a little better than I was and I see the field more."

As the fullback, Pratt is the featured back in Carnegie Mellon's run-oriented wing-T attack.

"The fullback is usually the leading rusher," he said. "I guess you could say I'm a hybrid between a halfback and a fullback. A lot of defenses prepare for the fullback first. It's pretty close that I'm getting hit on every play, either after the ball is handed off to me or when I'm carrying out a fake."

Pratt will have an extra week to heal because Carnegie Mellon (4-2) is idle this Saturday and next plays at Wittenberg on Oct. 24. The Tartans are coming off a 38-35 defeat against Allegheny this past Saturday.

Pratt was asked to describe his running style.

"I wouldn't say I'm the shiftiest of backs," he said with a laugh. "I have one-step quickness that can be deceiving.

"I started playing football at 8 and have always been a running back. I've been a football player as long as I can remember."

Ron Musselman's Penn State blog and videos and Paul Zeise's "Pitt Stop" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.