Greg interviews Maurice Clarett, the former Ohio State running back who led the team in 2002 to an undefeated season and their first national championship in 36 years. Following his first year at OSU, Maurice struggled with substance abuse, eventually culminating in imprisonment. He now educates and empowers others to achieve their goals through public speaking.
Greg asks Maurice about how his life changed following his triumphant freshman year. Maurice explains that during the off-season he found himself doing illegal things, which was eventually discovered and led to an indefinite suspension. “I had been taking illegal benefits or doing things illegally that I shouldn’t’ve been… The NCAA came in the fall of 2003, they launched an investigation. Throughout the investigation they found my wrongdoings and they suspended me indefinitely for the up-and-coming season. And from there, there was an intense amount of depression that set in. There was a lot of ‘What am I going to do now?’ ‘Where am I going? How does my life playout from here?’ and from there things just started to unfold. I found myself back in nightclubs, I found myself drinking, drugging, smoking, and doing everything to minimize the feeling I had going on.” Though he came through the suspension and was eventually drafted to the Denver Broncos in 2005, he says the three year period greatly changed his perspective.
Listen to the podcast to discover how Maurice handled his time away from the sport as well as his time in prison, and how both events shifted his priorities.
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