A few weeks ago we praised Maurice Clarett for apparently trying to right a wrong he had committed when making a police report in April. Clarett had reported cash and personal property stolen from a car he was driving. Trouble is, he apparently inflated the value of the belongings when talking to police.
On top of that, it turns out that his use of the car may be a violation of NCAA rules. There's also a question about whether he got some academic help not available to all students.
Now it looks as though he will wind up leaving Ohio State. He has been charged with misdemeanor falsification and has to file a response within a month.
Head coach Jim Tressel had suspended Clarett from the team indefinitely and this week the coach said he doesn't expect the sophomore running back to return this season. He also said that he wouldn't argue if Clarett asked to be released from his scholarship so he could attend another school and play football there.
So it looks like Clarett will not be playing for the Buckeyes again. Alan Milstein is the attorney for Clarett's family. He hasn't said whether his client wants to leave OSU to play for another school.
Former Cleveland Browns fullback Jim Brown has inserted himself as an "adviser" to Clarett and his family. Now there's a curious arrangement.
Brown was a terrific football player. I still love to see the old films of him rushing down field, shedding would-be tacklers. Films of him as a Hollywood cowboy are much less impressive.
But his personal history is tainted by brushes with the law. Since football, his career seems to have pretty much been "ex-football player."
Where anybody gets the idea that he has good advice to offer is beyond me.
Clarett reportedly has admitted overstating the value of the property stolen from him ... bad choice. Accepting Jim Brown as an "adviser" is another bad choice.
He probably will and should leave Columbus to pursue his pre-NFL apprenticeship. It appears that too much vitriol has gone back and forth between Ohio State and Clarett for any reconciliation to be effective.
There also is a tendency to wonder what the Ohio State Athletic Department could have done differently to prevent this situation from developing.
In fact, they may be doing it right. There has been little if any non-managed information coming from the campus or practice field. Frustrating as that is, it is the correct thing to do.
As soon as the problem with Clarett's contact with law enforcement became known, Clarett was separated from the team. The distractions presented by the controversy were kept to a minimum. And the school is dealing with the NCAA.
Of course none of this explains why they play so poorly against San
Diego State.