Wiedmer: Standing by athletes after glory days

If ever college football appeared to have itself a Can’t Miss Kid, it was Maurice Clarett in the wee morning hours of Jan. 4, 2003. The Ohio State freshman running back had just scored the winning touchdown in the Buckeyes’ two-overtime victory over Miami in the BCS title game.

He also had just rushed for the most yards by a freshman (1,237) in Buckeyes history, scoring a preposterous 18 touchdowns during the 2002 season.

There was no question that Clarett — as long as he could avoid injury — would become the NFL’s next great back, a new millennium version of Jim Brown or Earl Campbell. The only question was whether or not the 230-pounder would follow in former OSU great Archie Griffin’s footsteps and win back-to-back Heisman Trophies.

But as sometimes happens, real life didn’t follow the script. A series of terrible decisions — including challenging the NFL’s draft rules for underclassmen — swiftly turned out the lights on Clarett’s once blindingly bright future.

Then an aggravated robbery conviction landed him behind bars for three and a half years at the Toledo Correctional Institution.

And that’s probably where the story should have ended, another jock left with nothing because he was too dumb to realize his blessings.

Only Clarett’s life may be just beginning. According to Ohio State, a little more than three months after earning an early release from prison (his original sentence was for more than seven years), the Buckeyes’ Boy Blunder returned to class Monday to pursue an education degree.

The former Freshman All-American said in a released statement that it is a “surreal feeling to be back at Ohio State.” Clarett added that he doesn’t want to become a “distraction or nuisance” to the football team or other students.

But his return to Columbus after so much time away and so many mistakes calls into question what should be the long-term role of a university in a scholarship athlete’s life? At what point does the school wash itself of a troubled soul? How long should it hold open a degree opportunity for those who abandon college early for the lure of professional riches?

“We made a commitment a long time ago to our athletes that we’ll do everything we can to get them an education whether their athletic eligibility is up or not,” the University of Tennessee’s Dan Carlson said Tuesday.

“That’s why we started the RAC (Renewing Academic Commitment) program eight years ago, because we take that very seriously. And we are one of a handful of programs across the country that make this opportunity available for all our former athletes, regardless of the sport.”

Almost every Southeastern Conference school has such a program for football and men’s basketball players, who also make up the vast majority of those athletes who don’t turn their scholarships into degrees.

But that doesn’t make the RAC program any less admirable or impressive. Carlson — who coordinates RAC for the UT athletic department — estimates it has already helped 60 former athletes earn degrees, including a couple of women. He expects to have 10 in the RAC curriculum for the start of the fall semester. To prove that you’re never too old to get an education, defensive back Terry Fair — who last played in 1997 — finished work on his degree just two weeks ago.

“We were actually reviewing candidates today,” Carlson said. “We pay for tuition, books and fees, and we provide the same tutoring assistance at the Thornton Center that they enjoyed as active players. There is an application process that includes a one-page letter stating why the athlete wants to come back and what he intends to do with his degree. If they’re selected, they have to maintain satisfactory progress toward a degree. They also have to work 10 hours a week within the athletic department, but in an area apart from the sport they played. So a football player could work in the basketball office, for instance.”

Former South Pittsburg High great Eddie Moore last starred for the Vols in 2002. Injuries cut short his pro career. He eventually graduated from UT with a sociology degree and a minor in business in 2007, thanks to RAC.

“When I left Tennessee I was six hours short of a degree,” Moore said. “When I returned I was 21 hours shy. They’d changed the requirements. It took me two semesters to graduate.”

But graduate he did. He now lives in Charlotte with his wife, Lori, and daughter Celentria and works in the information technology field.

When asked what he would say to Clarett about a second chance to earn a degree, Moore said, “He should remember that he doesn’t need to prove anthing to anybody but himself and that your life’s what you do with your future, not what you did in the past.”

Perhaps to that end, Clarett blogged from prison last year: “Surviving the game of life is drastically different than surviving the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl.”

Especially without a college degree, which is why Moore will never forget UT reaching out to him

“It means a lot,” he said. “It means they’re willing to support their athletes even when we can’t do anything for the school anymore.”

Anything, that is, but often becoming a distraction or nuisance without an education to guide them.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com