While this year’s rookie class enters the NFL via the draft this April, Broncos safety Mike Adams will be preparing for life after football.

Adams is one of 21 players – 12 former and nine active – that will take part in the new NFL Franchising Boot Camp April 26-29, 2013, at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Over the four days, participants will hear firsthand from franchisees, franchisors, professors, former players and executives at the IFA on all aspects of franchising. Carolina Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson, who spent more than three decades as a restaurant franchisee, will open the program as the keynote speaker. In addition, four former NFL players with franchise ownership experience — Angelo Crowell, Don Davey, Tyoke Jackson and Jamal Lewis — will take part in panel discussions.

Ross School professor of business economics Francine LaFontaine, co-author of The Economics of Franchising (Cambridge University Press) and leading academic expert on franchise performance, business creation and survival, serves as faculty director of the program, and joins three other Ross faculty members who will lead program workshops.