OL Alex Boone (Official Thread)

[Taosman]

This guy is a monster just waiting to hit his stride.
When he does he will start dominating people like few before him!
I want to see him CRUSH people!

 

[Oh8ch]

Very surprised to see JT saying he had the starting spot back. Usually when kids come back from this stuff they start at the bottom of the depth chart and work their way up.

 

[Taosman]

He's got a fire in him that makes him want to damage people.

 

[buckeyeboy]

I do not go to BN very often, but there seems to be a pretty credible poster who thinks that Rehring is a better Tackle then Boone but they will have Rehring at Guard so Datish can play center. I am not sure I follow that logic because I think if Rhering was a better tackle wouldn't they keep him there and have Alex move to guard?

I saw that too, and I was really taken aback by it. It seems that with Boone there is a great deal of variation regarding his talent. I've read several preview magazines that have said he's our best O-lineman and has the potential to be one of the best in the country, and then I read that blurb on BN that says he shouldn't even be starting. Maybe he still needs more time to develop...

 

[Buckskin86]

Sober conviction

Ohio State left tackle and former St. Edward star Alex Boone hit a car near campus in April, was found guilty of drunken driving and nearly had his world crash around him. His response to the close call was to acknowledge and tackle his problem, then to go and help others. Four months later, he says he has left drinking behind.

Sunday, August 06, 2006
Story by Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus -- For Alex Boone, it was just another night of beers, a lot of laughs, the memories to be lost in a haze the next morning. Then Boone got behind the wheel of his black Ford F-150 pickup.

Ohio State's football team returns to campus today, with preseason practice to start Monday.

Boone, who turned 19 in May, will arrive in Columbus as a sophomore starting left tackle, four months sober, down to 315 pounds after losing 50 pounds of beer weight, and eternally grateful that his actions in the early morning of April 2 didn't end a life or his football career.

After hitting a car near campus that night, an act he doesn't fully remember, Boone pleaded no contest to a charge of drunken driving and was found guilty, an inevitable outcome after hearing his tales of drinking that started as an eighth-grader, continued through high school at St. Edward and intensified his freshman year at Ohio State.

Boone said he hasn't had a drink since, and with the support of his family and blessing of offensive coordinator Jim Bollman and coach Jim Tressel, will continue his Buckeyes football career without a suspension. He knows how lucky he is but that his drinking problem, though on the extreme end, isn't that uncommon on college campuses.

He hopes his story can prevent others from repeating it.

“It was the Friday they announced the starters, and I was one of them, so I was really hyped," Boone said. "Troy [Smith] came to me and said, ‘You’re going to be my boy this year; I expect you to take over,’ and I said, ‘I’m there for you; I love you; I would never let anything happen to you.’ And then Saturday I got too drunk, and things just got out of control.

“The first time I told Coach Bollman, I cried. It was 4:30 in the morning . . . and I didn’t know what to say to him. He didn’t answer his phone, and I left him a message, and I just broke down. I felt so ashamed of myself. He called me back, and I’d never seen him really get mad at me, but he was like, ‘What did you do? What were you doing driving a car while you were drunk?’ He said, ‘I’m going to call Tress, and we’ll meet tomorrow.’

“My mom came down, and we met that Monday, and Coach Tress broke it down real fast. We went in there, and I just told him right away that I really did embarrass the team, big time. And I told him I was sorry and that I have a problem with drinking, and I have to get help before I can do anything. Coach Tress said, ‘Here’s the deal. If you don’t change, you’re not going to play here. You’ve got a problem; you’ve got to fix it. Like any man, you’ve got to straighten out and fix it.’ ”

Tressel demoted Boone to second string for spring practice, telling him that getting his life straight was first, and football came second. Tressel confirmed this week that Boone will be the starting left tackle in the opener against Northern Illinois. In Franklin County Court, Boone was fined $300, sentenced to alcohol counseling and had his license suspended for 180 days.

Boone also had to avoid a suspension from the university with a hearing before the Office of Student Affairs.

“My punishment was I had to run for a couple of days, pull sleds around both fields and do sprints in full pads and everything,” he said. “I thought I was going to die. And all the coaches just looked down on me and were like, ‘You want to drink now? You want to drink now, big boy?’ I feel like if I was still drinking, I wouldn’t be playing at all.

“I had a lot of stuff I had to go through with the courts and with Ohio State. They were going to suspend me for the season. They called me and were like it’s automatic because there was a new rule at the end of January, and you automatically get suspended for the next quarter. So I went in there, and I talked to the lady, and I dressed up for her, and I gave her a hug, and I told her how much I embarrassed everybody, and if you took my season away, it wouldn’t punish me as much as it would punish the team.

“She was like, ‘Well, I can’t give you special privileges because you’re a football player,’ and I told her my plan. My best friend went sober with me, and she called me back in and said, ‘No one ever came to me with their plan before. It doesn’t sound like a stupid one, and it looks like you’re dedicated to it.

I’m going to hold off on this, but if I catch you drinking again, you’re done.’ ”

Boone’s version of the events was confirmed by a university official.

Last year, hearings regarding student DUIs ended in suspensions and probation in about equal number. Ruth Gerstner, a spokeswoman for the Student Affairs, said “Athletes are treated as students first and are not given special treatment. Involvement in extracurricular activities may or may not play a factor, whether it’s football or chorus or the chess team.”

Today, Boone is blunt about his situation.

“I knew I had a problem. I had been drinking like every night, just terrible drinking,” he said. “I’d be down here in Columbus drinking, and I’d wake up . . . and I was like, ‘How did I get home last night?’ And guys were like, you got ripped, and you drove home, and we tried stopping you, and you got into a fight. And I was like, ‘I got a problem,’ and I’d try to go sober, and it would last me about three days, and I’d be like, ‘I need a beer.’

“Even during the season, I was drinking way more than I should have been. I shouldn’t be drinking at all — I’m not of age — but I just realized I’m not mature enough to drink. I’d have one beer, and it would lead to 24 or 36 — there were weekends when in one night I’d be putting down 40.

“I drank because I wanted to have a good time. . . . I really did think I was kind of an alcoholic. I would drink just to get drunk. I wouldn't drink because my friends are drinking or because we lost or won the game. I would drink because I wanted to drink.

I always felt comfortable when I had a beer in my hand. When I was drinking, I felt like a different person. I could be more myself and really open up to myself. . . But looking back on it, I wish people would have said he doesn’t need a beer to be cool.

But that’s not how it was.

“I always felt like drinking was the answer, anywhere I was.” Boone attended a three-day alcohol program as part of his court sentence and attends weekly counseling sessions as part of the athletic department’s program. He also sought out friends who didn’t drink, went to movies and miniature golf, and would call his family on weekend nights when he chose boredom over bar-hopping. He’s growing his hair long and says he won’t cut it as long as he’s sober.

“Now I’m totally sober. I went to an alcohol program, and I felt really embarrassed when I went in there, too,” he said. “I didn’t want to wear a name tag, and everyone was like, ‘You look really familiar.’ It was a three-day thing in a hotel — you meet all day and watch videos about how parents have lost their kids to drunk drivers, and leaving there I felt like a complete jackass. Looking back, driving down 12th Street, doing 50 miles per hour in my truck, I could have killed somebody.

“Nobody trusted me anymore; everybody thought I was drunk all the time. . . . The next day I was walking to class, and this kid walks out of a building and says, ‘You’re a [jerk].’ And what can you say to that? I am. I stopped and was like, ‘I’m sorry,’ and he just walked away.”

Boone didn’t just drink on his own, he forced it on others, in high school and college. He said he’s spoken to some high school students about drinking, including a football camp at St. Edward, and has tried to apologize to the people whose first beer came at the insistence of a 300-pound football player.

“It’s hard to promise people things like that, that it’ll never happen again, but I don’t want the same thing to happen again,” he said. “I know what alcohol did to me. It ruined my life for a while there. I was kind of nothing.

Nobody could trust me. Nobody wanted to talk to me. I couldn't hang out with my friends anymore. I know the consequences of drinking and what it does to you, and I don’t want to go down that road again. “It’s a whole new look on life.

There are times I see beer, and I really want one, but I just walk away real fast. I realized I am a better man without it. . . . After a while you realize you don’t need that stuff, and you can have fun without it.

“I kind of feel like I'm a grownup now. I’m only 19 years old, but I have so much experience now, so I went back to St. Ed and talked to them about it, and I really hope they listened. I told them, ‘It will take a hold of you, and it will grab you, and it won’t let go.’ I feel like they listened to me because I’m the same age, I played with them, I grew up with them, and I was like, ‘Don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t be stupid.’ ”

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-4479

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/115485384376540.xml&coll=2

 

[BB73]

That's a pretty good article about Boone - he really opened up about his drinking.

Gotta believe that change in lifestyle means he'll be in much better physical shape this season.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

I would have to agree with you BB73.....its rare to see a kid open up that much about drinking. It's great to hear that he is making the effort to change his lifestyle and it speaks volumes for his family who I am sure has been the driving force behind him.

 

[ShakerBuck]

In that PD article it states that Alex's weight is down to 315..having lost 50 lbs of beer weight!

Alex also states he used to have 24-36 beers in a night...sometimes as much as 40 beers, and was drinking heavily even during the season.

Lets hope he stays sober, for himself first and foremost.

 

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

In that PD article it states that Alex's weight is down to 315..having lost 50 lbs of beer weight!

Alex also states he used to have 24-36 beers in a night...sometimes as much as 40 beers, and was drinking heavily even during the season.

Lets hope he stays sober, for himself first and foremost.

My body wouldn't allow me to ingest 40 beers, good God.

On a serious note, alcoholism is a SERIOUS addiction and I hope he can stay on his apparent path to fixing that. I wish him the best of luck and look forward to seeing him out on the football field.

 

[craigblitz]

An honest article, that was great. It was not uncommon at all to watch O-Line memebrs drink over a case a night when I played 3-4 times a week. 6'8 315 he needs to bulk :-).

 

[G8erBait]

Hey guys, that was a good article. I am wondering what you think of him not getting any suspension for the DUI? No flame here and I hope you don't take it as that either. It is a little odd that a guy admits to driving while drunk on more then once and gets arrested and convicted of DUI but he doesn't get at least a game suspension. That seems like the Bobby Bowden treatment. I am personally a little surprised that there is no suspension.

Anyway I am glad to see that he is trying to change his life around. Problems like that don't go away after a few months but rather a few years and even then they can come back. However it looks like he is off to a good start.

 

[Crayfish]

Coach Tress said, ‘Here’s the deal. If you don’t change, you’re not going to play here.

Seems to me like Tressel pretty much laid it out clearly. It's a little different than giving the kid a 1 game suspension against an inferior school and then he goes about his business as if nothing happened. Tressel told him to straighten out or your gone for good, not just for a game as a token slap on the wrist. I imagine that is a little more of a deterrent from continuing this behavior than a missed game or even two.

Could he have been given both, the ultimatum and a game suspension, sure. And I can see that. But that would have just been that "token game" which is the socially acceptable punishment. The real test is can he straighten out his life because one more slip up and he's suspended from the university and likely off the team.

All in all, I don't get the feel that Tressel is looking out for himself making sure his best guys are on the field because honestly Rehring could move to LT and I could play LG and we'd be just fine against NIU offensively.

 

[Padraig]

I think it says in the article that it was about 50/50 of cases similar last year that the general student body got suspended vs. not.

Then it goes on to say that in Boones case the lady with the University commented that she had never had a student come to her with his/her own plan to attack the problem and get their life back in order.

So between those two comments I don't have a problem with him not being suspended. He doesn't seem to be getting any special treatment (according to the "student body" cases quote). And I'm sure he had to take his medicine as far as the Team Disciplinary measures went.

 

[stxbuck]

it speaks volumes for his family who I am sure has been the driving force behind him.

This is an unintentionally ironic quote, b/c it cuts completely both ways. Positive, because his family was there in his time of need and has supported his change wholeheartedly. Negative, b/c as a teacher at a parochial school who sees this kind of thing, I can assure you that kids do not begin getting hammered on beer in the 8th grade w/out a tacit "wink, wink" from their parents, and the behavior just continues to escalate throughout HS. With the stories you hear from kids, you can definitely tell which parents allow anything to happen vis a vis alcohol, and the ones who take an proactive approach to what their kids are up to. I'm just glad the whole Boone family addressed this situation before something even worse than a DUI occurred.

 

[G8erBait]

I agree that 1 game against a soft team is just a "token" punishment. I personally would suspend someone convicted of a DUI offense 3 games. That is what Penn State did the last time I remember and Notre Dame actually kicked a kid off the team. I believe Penn State suspended one of their star LB's for just making a prank phone call.

1 game may be a token suspension but it is better than no suspension. I mean this was a kid who has done this multiple times (by his own admission). That is pretty darn serious imo. I think Tressell is a good coach and a good person but this is actually pretty surprising. Now he shouldn't be suspended for the year or kicked off the team but some time of suspenion seems to be called for..especially since this wasn't the first time he did it.