http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...ky-colonels-ecstasy-addiction-comeback-102015
Inside banned ex-Buckeye Noah Spence's battle back from drug addiction
Bruce Feldman
FOX Sports
Oct 20, 2015 at 2:24p ET
Last January as the college football world watched Ohio State dominate Oregon to win the national title, one man sat home in Columbus with his phone shut off and forced himself to watch the entire thing, even though he really didn’t want to.
Noah Spence is no Ohio State hater, though. He was thrilled for the Buckeyes, but watching the game that night tore him up inside.
“I had tears in my eyes,” Spence told FOX Sports. "I forced myself to watch it. The whole thing. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I messed it all up.”
Spence was Urban Meyer’s first five-star recruit to commit to the new era at Ohio State four years earlier. As a sophomore in 2013, the defensive lineman had 14.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks, leading the Buckeyes in both categories and sparking Ohio State to a 12-0 regular season. He made first-team All-Big Ten and also made Academic All-Big Ten. Spence managed to do all that while keeping a dark secret inside and away from his family and teammates.
Suspicions about Spence first began to surface after he failed a drug test for a banned substance at the 2013 Big Ten title game. He was suspended for three games, which caused him to miss the Orange Bowl. Spence, though, lied to his family and coaches about what triggered the positive test, blaming it on someone slipping something into his drink.
Truth is, it was Spence himself who was putting things in his drinks. Spence failed another drug test in September 2014, testing positive for Ecstasy. He appealed the test, but it was denied and the star player found out he was permanently banned from the Big Ten a few days before the Buckeyes were to face Wisconsin for the Big Ten title. With Spence off the team, Ohio State crushed the Badgers, then handled No. 1 Alabama before defeating the Ducks for the national championship.
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