Maurice and the Combine (MERGED)

[EasyBuck]

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Perhaps #13 is starting to mature ......

I don't see how he was taken by OSU and the boosters though.

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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=article width=420> Sportsview: Clarett Takes Big Step Forward


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By JIM LITKE, AP Sports Columnist

He hasn't been tackled since the spring of 2003. That's not to say that Maurice Clarett hasn't absorbed more than his fair share of knocks since. If anything, the opposite is true. He's lost time, millions of dollars and a reputation. About the only thing Clarett dodged, at least until Thursday, was responsibility for any of it.

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But this time, he stood still and took those hits, too. That was a big step forward.

"We can say coulda, shoulda, woulda about a lot of things. But the fact that it didn't turn out that way," Clarett said at the NFL combine, "I'm not about to be mad or cry over it."

There's no point in anybody else weeping for him, either. Not the league's scouts and talent evaluators, not the general managers who make the draft picks, not the rest of us, not anymore. Clarett caught some tough breaks growing up poor in Youngstown, Ohio, but the bad things that happened to him over the last two years — he brought most of those on himself.

Walk around with your hand out all the time, the way Clarett did at Ohio State, and two things are bound to happen. First, people are going to assume you're needy, and second, they're eventually going to want a return on their investment. He got taken by Ohio State, by Ohio State's boosters, and by all those sycophants and lawyers who talked him into challenging the NFL minimum-age requirement.

But all that had better be behind him now. Clarett has been given one final chance to prove he's his own man, and ducking wasn't an option. That included fielding an even five dozen questions from a skeptical crowd of reporters about how and why he's changed.

"I don't think I really can say. Just," Clarett began, "I had to take a look at myself from outside myself. When I looked at myself sometimes, I kind of looked like a joke to myself. I guess it was a part of growing up and becoming who I am today.

"I just looked at it like one of you all might at me and be like, 'He wasn't mature.' I did do some things I shouldn't have done. I've taken responsibility for all those things and I'm just ready to move forward."

That's the saving grace of the athletic system that used Clarett every bit as hard as he used it. The people in charge are always ready to move forward, too.

A year ago, Clarett showed up at the same combine memorably overweight and unprepared. He promised to be ready for a private workout two months later, and was anything but. The only thing that seemed sharper in the intervening months was his tongue.

In an interview with ESPN The Magazine last November, he blasted Ohio State one more time and then Clarett promised to remove any doubts about his character and his preparations when he turned at the combine this time. The troubling part is that it was never going to be as easy as he made it sound.

"I'm thinking, `NFL GMs know college players take money,'" he said at the time. "It was nothing like I stole something. Nothing like I'm running from the law or I'm dragging a girl down the stairs. No domestic violence. No nothing. (But) I got to clear myself up now, because it's affecting the minds of the GMs."

What's changed between now and then remains anyone's guess. But Clarett looked fit instead of fidgety, and sounded confident instead of like a con man. A month ago, reports that he was working out diligently were easy to dismiss, especially after he skipped out on a commitment to participate in a skills challenge that was staged to showcase some of college football most draftable talent.

But he showed up Thursday with a very buff 234 pounds layered on his frame, and even more important, a willingness to display it. As opposed to last year, Clarett will run, jump, lift and take part in every drill offered. He promised potential employers he was ready to do things on their terms, even if it meant getting chewed up as a spare part on special teams.

"I want to play," Clarett said, "for whoever wants me to play for them."

He won't know until the end of April which team that is, but Clarett already knows they're getting him cheap. If he'd been successful the first time he tried to get into the league, Clarett would have been a late first-round pick or an early second, probably taking home a four-year deal and signing bonus totaling close to $5 million. Now, if he's convinced a team to take a flyer on him in the third round, he'd be lucky to get a quarter of that amount.

Expensive as that hit was, he understands this is only chance to make it back.

"The fact of the matter is you step on that field, it doesn't matter where you were drafted at. ... That matters financially. But when it comes down to playing on that field, you can ask anybody I've ever played against, I don't joke around.

"I," Clarett said, "handle my business." This time, he'd better do just that.

[jrandosu]

on Bengals.com there is a quote of Mo's saying something along the lines of I am a Buckeye and always will be. Perhaps someone with a greater knowledge of computer dynamics could hook us up with the exact quote.

[Padraig]

I read that quote too, though my first thought was that it was the PC, non confrontational, "new MoC" type of response I'd expect at the biggest job interview of his life.

[Buckeye513]

Before he starts calling himself a Buckeye again, I want an apology.

[tibor75]

from Bengals.com

A sampling.

On what changed him: “I don't think I really can say. Just I had to take a look at myself from outside myself. When I looked at myself, sometimes I kind of looked like a joke to myself. I guess it was a part of growing up and becoming who I am today. I just looked at it like one of you all might at me and be like, 'He wasn't mature.' I did do some things I shouldn't have done. I've taken responsibility for all those things and I'm just ready to move forward.”

On when he realized it: “When I read your articles.”

On the biggest thing he learned about himself: “Probably humility. Being humble. I don't want to say I was humble in the past all the time, I might have said some things to the media I shouldn't have said and things like that. He taught me to be humble. It's a humbling thing being humble.”

On being in better shape: “I did a lot more weight lifting, a lot more strength training and things like that. I weighed in today at 234 but it's a lot different from last year.”

On the difference between him last year and this year: “The mental part probably, I didn't know what to expect last year, I know what to expect coming back to the combine. The physical thing, I just took it a lot more serious than I did last year.”

On Ohio State: “I love Ohio State. I've been a Buckeye, I'm going to continue to be a Buckeye and continue to support 'em.”

[SCBuckeye75]

Originally Posted by tibor75

from Bengals.com

On Ohio State: “I love Ohio State. I've been a Buckeye, I'm going to continue to be a Buckeye and continue to support 'em.”

:

What???Did I just read that??? If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be more surprised than I am right now.

[BuckBackHome]

Didn't he impress people in the personal interviews last year, but gave them nothing more? The kid is nothing but a two-bit con artist.

[bukIpower]

Now he screwed us over, and jobbed us completly. However I've always been a fan of his during his playing days, and words like those would make me atleast want to appreciate again what he did for our school. Although the wound isn't nearly healed I hope he does well at the combine.

[bullsfan75]

On Ohio State: “I love Ohio State. I've been a Buckeye, I'm going to continue to be a Buckeye and continue to support 'em.”

Some naive NFL exec is going to take that as evidence of his loyalty. My money's on Mike Brown.