Former Penn State football defensive lineman Carl Nassib has retired from professional football after seven seasons in the NFL, he announced Wednesday.

Nassib, who played for the Nittany Lions from 2011-2015, shared a post on Instagram to announce the news.

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A post shared by Carl Nassib (@carlnassib)

“It really feels like just yesterday starting out as a walk-on at Penn State. Football has given me more than I ever could have imagined,” Nassib said in the post.

Nassib made a name for himself at Penn State, going from walk-on to a consensus All-American. After not playing his first two seasons, he made his debut in 2013, appearing in 10 games to record his first sack and 12 tackles. His sophomore season was much of the same, appearing in all 13 games and recording a sack.

Nassib took off in 2015, as he recorded a 15.5-sack season, which set a school record for most sacks in a single season. He also finished with 46 tackles and 19.5 tackles for loss.

He went on to be First-Team All-Big Ten and a Unanimous All-American as well as a number of defensive awards. After the season he entered his name into the 2016 NFL draft and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the 3rd round.

With the Browns, Nassib was a rotational player on the defensive line and recorded 5.5 sacks in his two seasons in Cleveland. Nassib was cut by the Browns before the 2018 season and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he found success. In two seasons with the Buccaneers, he totaled 12.5 sacks in 17 starts.

Those stellar seasons earned him a three-year, $25 million contract from the Las Vegas Raiders. After signing that contract, however, Nassib’s play decreased as only racked up four sacks with the Raiders.

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A post shared by Carl Nassib (@carlnassib)

During that time Nassib came out as gay becoming the first active NFL player to come out publicly. With this announcement, he donated $100,000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

In 2022, he returned to the Buccaneers which became his final season. He finished his time in the NFL with 25.5 sacks and 187 tackles over a seven-year career.

Nassib plans to focus on his new app Rayze, a social networking app that links people links to nonprofits that appeal to their interests.