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RB Maurice Clarett (B1G Freshman of the Year, National Champion)

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Dispatch

6/7/06

Indoor team might put Clarett back on field

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Josh Moss
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Maurice Clarett is expected to sign a contract to play for the Mahoning Valley Hitmen, one of four teams in the firstyear Eastern Indoor Football League.
Hitmen coach and general manager Jim Terry, who has played in several indoor football leagues, said that Clarett, a star running back on Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team, has made an oral agreement with the team and should sign a contract by today. Terry said he sent the papers to Clarett last night.
"I’ve never seen a player this excited at this level of play," Terry said of Clarett. "This isn’t a runner’s league. It’s a passer’s league. And (Clarett) is going to try to make it on the ground."
Clarett has been beset by seemingly endless difficulties. After his freshman season in 2002, Ohio State officials accused him of violating NCAA rules by accepting presents from a family friend and suspended him for the 2003 season. He was later convicted of filing a false police report that claimed $10,000 worth of property was stolen from a car he had parked on campus.
After leaving Ohio State, he unsuccessfully sued the NFL over age restrictions in an attempt to enter the 2004 draft. He was drafted in 2005 by the Denver Broncos but was released before the season.
Earlier this year, he pleaded not guilty to aggravated-robbery charges. He is awaiting trial.
Terry understands Clarett’s past but thinks the Hitmen could be a good fit for him.
"He’s a bona fide Division I star, and he’s from Youngstown," Terry said. "If he can’t make it here, he can’t make it anywhere."
Clarett is not the only former Buckeye who Terry expressed interest in.
"We’re also after (former OSU quarterback) Steve Bellisari. We’d love for him to play for us," he said.
That’s if the league can get on its feet. The Hitmen formed in May, and questions have sprung up about whether they will ever play a game. The team only has four players on its roster but plans to hold open tryouts in August.
And it isn’t certain where the Hitmen will play their games, but Terry said the league will start its inaugural season in January or February with no fewer than five teams and no more than seven. With fewer teams in the league, Terry said it will be easier for every team to at least break even financially.
"The most important thing is that every team that starts the season ends the season," he said. "I don’t want this to be like a bowling league with a new guy or new team leaving every year."
In addition to the Hitmen, the EIFL’s Web site lists New Jersey’s Bay Shore Brawlers and Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Rats as the other teams in the league. Terry also said a team from Maryland recently joined the EIFL.
Now he just hopes Clarett will join the Hitmen.
"A lot of people will say, ‘Look how far he has fallen,’ " Terry said. "I say, ‘What do you want this guy to do? Do you want him to just give up?’ "
[email protected]
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Wow....he went from a college national championship to being kicked out of college, to being kicked out of the NFL, and now cant hash it in either the NFLE or AFL so he signs with what may be the lowlyest of all football leagues? lol...I guess....

I see this kid being like Rickey Williams, and Im not saying that out of spite. He gets a plethera of chances but keeps effing it all up. Im sure there will be something more on him in the future. As a human being I wish him luck, but as a pridefull Buckeye, he cant rot in hell for the blackeye he has given both Tressel, our players and this university as a whole.

PS. I dont think this will bode well for Claretts image --> "Clarett is now a Hitman". Especially not after his current robery charge..:tongue2:
 
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Steve19 said:
Well, provided that he is able to beat the charges against him, and hypothetically, if he did well, what would this do for his chances to get into the NFL? Anything?
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Unless he gets like 8 ypc, I still don't see him making it to the NFL. Maybe he'll get a shot at the CFL, or some other league, and maybe he can work his way up. However, that is asking a lot of a guy of MoC's caliber.

Also, I don't believe that they run the ball a lot in Arena football. So that definitely won't help him out, at all, either.

It's going to take a lot of MoC to put this altogether, if he wants a shot at the NFL. And I think it's possible that the fact that he's playing in a league like this may possibly motivate him, and help him come to the self-realization that he can do better than that, if he puts his character together.
 
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Re: "Changes that will help the E.I.F.L. survive:
E.I.F.L. athletes payroll will consist of a team salary cap $5,000 per week. Teams may carry a range of 16-20 dressed players each week. It will be up to the organization and front office to decide on the amount players will make. Not every player will make the same pay. Not every team will have the same payroll.

It will be up to each team to provide everything their team may need for home and road games. Teams are responsible for there own meals, housing and travel both at home and on the road. It is in no way the job of the home team to provide anything for a visiting team in the way of meals or housing.

The season will start with each team having a home pre-season game in mid. January.

The Eastern Indoor Football Leagues season will consist of 10 games over an 11 week stretch."

http://eieiofootball.com/

WOW, he'll really be making the "big bucks" playing in the for the Hitmen!!! Approximately $350 to $400 per game for 10 games equals $3500 to $4000 per year (before taxes). On an annual basis he could do better working full time at McDonalds.
 
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forget him, i did tOSU wrong and tryed to take them down. i hope he does not make it to the nfl ever. that may seem wrong or mean, but anybody we does that to there teammates, there university, coaches, and even the fans does not deserve to continue with a professional carrer
 
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Link

Published: Jul 08, 2006 - 10:59:21 pm CDT Sports
Clarett saga now shifts into arena football league


Saturday, July 8, 2006 10:59 PM CDT



I f pro football had a Hall of Lame, the first induction class would probably include players like Todd Marinovich, Lawrence Phillips, Ryan Leaf, Mike Junkin, Akili Smith and David Klingler.

And let’s not forget the man who may be promoted to the head of the class, Maurice Clarett.
This is the same Maurice Clarett who, as a freshman, led Ohio State to an upset of Miami to win the 2002 national championship.

This is the same Maurice Clarett who sat out his sophomore year to challenge the NFL draft.

He lost.

This is the same Maurice Clarett who was drafted a year later in the third round by the Denver Broncos, a pick that remains a mystery.
It is the same Maurice Clarett who allegedly robbed a man and a woman at gunpoint behind the Opium Lounge in downtown Columbus. Clarett was identified by the bar owner who just happened to come out into the alley.

And now, this is the same Maurice Clarett who has signed to play with the Mahoning Valley Hitmen of the Eastern Indoor Football League.
These are the same Hitmen who will be one of five to seven teams in the newly-formed league.

Jim Terry, who is the head coach of the Ohio franchise, said he’s never seen a player so excited to sign with a team. That can be taken two ways. You admire Clarett’s enthusiasm, but why is a running back so excited to join a passing league?

If Clarett is banking on the Hitmen to get him back in shape and make another run at the NFL, that is admirable. But the Eastern Indoor Football League? A league that has yet to play a game? A league that’s not even sure if it will have enough teams and, if so, how many.

Players like Marinovich and Phillips lost their careers to drug usage and/or continued run-ins with the law.

Marinovich’s father tried to make his son the prototype quarterback only to see him become the inspiration for the movie “Half Baked.” Phillips has spent more time in police headquarters for assault charges than he did in a training camp.

Junkin should never have been drafted No. 1 by the Browns — man, that Art Modell is a great judge of talent — and no one can forget how ballyhooed quarterbacks like Leaf, Klingler and Smith failed miserably to make the transition from college to the NFL.

So what category does Clarett fall under? Maybe all of the above. If that’s true, no wonder he’s at the head of his class.
 
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