Friday, February 20, 2009 3:07 AM
By
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
INDIANAPOLIS -- Alex Boone said he is learning that maybe alcohol controls him rather than the other way around. The former Ohio State offensive lineman is trying to rebuild his tattered resume this week at the NFL scouting combine. It's a daunting task, considering he was charged this month with public intoxication, his second alcohol-related arrest in less than three years.
After the first incident, a drunken-driving charge in 2006, Boone talked publicly about once drinking 30 or 40 beers a day but said he had kicked the habit.
That was fine then, but now, the explanation is harder. Police in California said Boone's blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit when they responded to a call Feb. 1 of a man jumping on cars and banging on doors.
Police had to stun Boone, who is 6 feet 8 inches and 312 pounds, with a Taser several times to subdue him.
Boone's mother, Amy, said then that Alex "has a problem that needs addressed." Yesterday, Boone said he has been seeing a counselor.
"I went sober for a year" after the 2006 arrest, he said, "and after a while, I was like, 'You know what? Maybe I can get a hold on this. I'm older now.'
"And maybe this lesson has proven to me that maybe I just can't ever (drink), maybe I just don't ever need it. So that's one of those things that me and the counselors talk about now."
Boone's forthrightness could help his cause with NFL scouts and executives who have heard the standard I-made-a-mistake explanation.
They might still draft a troubled player but not if they feel they're being fed a line.
"What you're probably looking for is not for a canned response," Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "You're looking for sort of honest, heartfelt answers, rather than someone reading from a script. And you can tell when somebody's been coached" on what to say.
Boone considered leaving Ohio State last spring, when he was viewed as a second- or third-round NFL pick. After the Buckeyes' offensive line struggled in 2008, Boone's draft stock slid to maybe a fourth-round slot. He said drinking did not affect his play.
"No, not at all -- I was never out of control during the season," he said. After the Fiesta Bowl in January, Boone went to California to train. He was only so-so in the East-West Shrine Game, and speculation was that maybe Boone was feeling pressure that led to his drunken outburst and arrest. "No, it was that I hadn't drank in a while, and it kind of just caught up to me too fast," he said.
Boone said he already has talked with representatives from about 10 or 12 teams and that some have not brought up his legal troubles. He might now be a late-round pick.
It's been a tough fall for a former
Parade All-American out of Lakewood St. Edward High School, a five-star recruit who started 39 games at Ohio State.
His case is set for a March 24 arraignment in Orange County Superior Court, and then he'll have another month to wait and see whether an NFL team is willing to believe that his troubles with alcohol are in the past. "Right now, it's a day-by-day battle," Boone said, "and it's going good."
[email protected]
"And maybe this lesson has proven to me that maybe I just can't ever (drink), maybe I just don't ever need it. So that's one of those things that me and the counselors talk about now."
Alex Boone
Ohio State offensive lineman
