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Football
Tressel Helped Clarett Get back to Ohio State
By Brandon Castel

There was a time not too long ago where few would have expected Jim Tressel and Maurice Clarett to cross paths again.

After being released from his scholarship at Ohio State nearly six years ago, Clarett did everything in his power to take Tressel down with him. He even accused the OSU Head Coach, and his brother Dick Tressel, of committing major NCAA violations involving boosters, car dealerships and fixed grades.

Maurice Clarett
Photo by Jim Davidson

It was a low blow for the former golden boy—and one of the heroes of the Buckeyes’ 2002 National Championship team—one than most assumed would never be forgotten.

While that might still be true, it appears it has been forgiven.

Clarett re-enrolled at Ohio State this week after spending three-and-a-half years in prison on aggravated robbery and concealed weapons charges, but not without the help of his former coach.

“We've been working for the last three months try to get the i's dotted and the t's crossed to get him back in and move him towards a degree,” Tressel told reporters Tuesday at the “Operation: Military Kids Hero Camp” at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in Columbus.

“In fact he just told me after his first class yesterday, that he woke up at 4:30 and he just grabbed his book and started studying and was excited.”

Clarett and Tressel’s relationship goes way back, even before Ohio State. Clarett was a star junior at Warren Harding High School when Tressel left Youngstown State to take the job in Columbus in 2001. He was the first blue-chip recruit of the Tressel era at Ohio State, a high school All-American with a flair for the dramatic.

Early in his OSU career Clarett appeared on the cover of ESPN the Magazine, where he was shown stripping off his Ohio State jersey. Even then he was quoted as wanting to challenge the NFL’s rule requiring a player to wait three years after graduating from high school to declare for the draft.

“Do I think about it?” Clarett said in the article. “It's got to go through your head, man. It's got to go through your head. I'm not saying it's something I will do. I'm not saying it's something I won't do.”

He would do it, but not before taking Ohio State to the highest of highs and attempting to take them to the lowest of lows.

Only months after that article was published by ESPN, Clarett helped the Buckeyes reach the pinnacle of college football, while helping Tressel capture his first BCS National Title in just his second season at Ohio State. The Youngstown native set an OSU freshman rushing record with 1,237 yards and 18 touchdowns, but they were the last statistics Clarett would ever post on the football field.

He was suspended by OSU for his sophomore season after he was charged with filing a false police report. The New York Times soon alleged that Clarett had received preferential treatment from a professor, and Clarett was officially released from the program after athletic director Andy Geiger stated he took thousands of dollars in special benefits.
Clarett was quick to turn on his former school and his former coach, saying he “took the fall” for the university. He alleged that Tressel committed a number of NCAA violations, including arranging loaner cars for him, securing lucrative landscaping jobs that he did not show up for and hooking him up with athletic boosters who slipped him thousands of dollars.

He quickly became the most hated figure in Columbus, but not in the Tressel household.

“Anytime someone is part of your life, even if it doesn't go well, you've got to continue to be there for him,” Tressel said. 

“That's just the way we do things.”

Although Tressel continue to reach out to his embattled former player, Clarett’s life continued to spiral out of control, eventually landing him the slammer in 2006, three years after he was released from the Denver Broncos without playing a down in the NFL.

With his return to classes at Ohio State, Tressel is optimistic about Clarett’s chances of transforming his life story from tragic to inspirational. 

“It's what you hope for,” he said.

“We all make mistakes...some are different mistakes than others and there are always consequences for whatever the mistake is and if you take care of that, usually the world is a forgiving world.”

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