[NU Sports] Maurice Clarett (fwd)

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> I can't help but remember that Tom Osborne was
> widely criticized by some

And I'm sure Husker fans are thus able to resist a
shot at Oklahoma in their time of woe.:) I don't
remember all the OSU/Clarett stuff, but did Tressel
allow Clarett back on the team after a police
incident?

In any case, I think programs and coaches are fair
game if they have repeated incidents off the field or
if they have a pattern of not taking police blotter
incidents seriously.

But I don't think you can expect a coach to know every
move of every player during and after he plays at a
school. Clarett seems to have rejected anyone who has
tried to help him from OSU to Denver and made his own
decisions. 

And I really don't think OSU "used" him and discarded
him. For one, I don't think they needed him to win the
national title that year (yeah, that rundown vs. Miami
was nice - but in most of the games that year,
including NU, I just remember wondering what they hype
was about - he was OK and had potential, but not the
second coming of Herschel Walker or Bo Jackson) - the
OSU D and Krenzel might have even been better without
all the distraction and hype. And second, I remember
Clarett discarding OSU, not the other way around.

Oh well, I certainly didn't mean to defend tOSU:),
they have very much earned their rep as "an SEC school
in Big Ten clothing" on and off the field. But I think
Tressel is at least trying to run a decent program
there and doesn't deserve the blame for the actions of
a guy who left the program five years earlier.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!

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