I am going to be 120% honest with you. I love sports and I have never heard of this dude. I follow sports like my life depends on it and this guy’s name isn’t even a blip on my radar. Oh, maybe it is because he only played for one season in the NFL….literally one season. I don’t even think he played in a regular season game. That makes me feel better, I thought maybe I was losing my touch.
Maurice Edward Clarett was born on October 29, 1983. He played football at Warren G. Harding High School where he gained national attention. In 2002 he committed with Ohio State University; picking them over Notre Dame, Fresno State, and the University of Miami. His first year at Ohio he rushed for 1,237 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. This guy clearly made a name for himself with in the sport of college football.
Despite being a phenomenal football player, he had a lot of troubles while at OSU. This Buckeye had been seen yelling at his coaches during football games…televised football games. He also publicly disrespected the school when he stated that they should have paid for a flight home when he had to attend the funeral of a family friend. The school fired back saying they would have but he didn’t fill out the necessary paperwork, Clarett would go on to claim that was a lie.
In July of 2003 he became the center of an academic scandal when a teaching assistant leaked to the media that Clarett never attended classes and got preferential treatment from his professors. An official investigation was opened and it was determined that there was no finding that could substantiate the claim. But if he is getting special treatment from his professors couldn’t they just lie and say he was in class and……never mind.
In 2003 Clarett was dismissed from OSU and moved to Los Angeles to start his NFL career. Or so he thought….in 2004 he would sue the NFL challenging the “a player must attend a minimum of three year of college to be drafted” rule. Despite only attending college for one year he won the case in a federal court and was able to participate in the 2005 draft.
In February of 2005 (a big month for me, I turned sixteen…. ah, memories). he attended the NFL combine where he ran a very disappointing forty-yard dash and cut out early. The media went on to have a field day with his combine performance giving him the nickname “Slow-Mo”. In a totally unexpected move Clarett was drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos that same year.
He gave a shit show of a performance at training camp, dude stunk up the joint so bad his teammates had to carry around Febreze. Despite being unimpressive in training camp Maurice Clarett would end up singing a four-year deal with the Broncos on July 28, 2005 (he got a guaranteed $413,000). Was John Elway general manager of the team at this time? If he was, I am very disappointed in him, someone please let him know that.
Clarett just kept producing one disappointment after another. That combined with the trouble he had with the coaches’ staff ended up getting him released from the team on August 28, 2005. As per the norm in the NFL for up to 24 hours after he was released other teams were allowed to come forward and claim his contract (If anyone wanted his dusty ass). Surprise, surprise, no team came forward to claim him and he kissed the NFL goodbye.
After both his college and NFL career being flushed down the porcelain bowl Clarett found himself one million dollars in debt from legal fees. I seriously didn’t think it was possible for someone to be a bigger bust than Johnny Manziel but apparently, I was wrong. Although this was way before Manziel’s time so Clarett was just paving the way for him I suppose.
On January 1, 2006 local authorities stated that they were for looking for Slow-Mo in relation to two armed robberies that occurred outside of a dance lounge in Columbus, Ohio. Clarett turned himself over to police shortly after the announcement on January 2, 2006. On February 10, 2006 (again with my birthday, what the hell is going on!?) Maurice Clarett was indicted by Franklin County on two counts of armed robbery with a deadly weapon (in this case a gun). He of course denied everything because he thought his shit don’t stink. On February 22nd he pleaded not guilty and was released on $20,000 bond.
On August 9, 2006 Clarett was arrested after making an illegal U-Turn and taking police on a car chase. At this point you just have to laugh at the guy, seriously. The chase ended after Clarett drove over a spike strip. He spat in officers faces and resisted arrest. The police had to use pepper spray to subdue him after a taser failed because my mans was wearing body armor. In his car cops discovered a katana, a loaded AK-47, two other loaded handguns, and an open bottle of Gray Goose. Oh, I see that he only drinks the topnotch stuff.
On September 18, 2006 Maurice Clarett took a plea deal and plead guilty to all charges against him. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison with the possibility of parole after serving three and a half years. On April 7, 2010 he was released from prison after being a model prisoner.
On August 30, 2010 he was picked up by the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football league. So, there is hope for him yet! Wrong, the UFL disbanded in 2012 (dude can’t catch a break, he has dropped more balls than Nelson Agholor). He also gave his hand at rugby in May 2013 but that didn’t work out so well for him either. In December 2013 he was featured on an episode of ESPN’s ’30 For 30″.
In 2016 Clarett founded “The Redzone” a behavioral therapy center in Youngstown, Ohio. In 2018 he would launch the podcast “Business and Biceps” with two other partners. As far as I know it has done very well and he has had a great podcast career. Good on ya mate.
Well there you have the fall of Maurice Clarett. I mean you can hardly call it a rise and fall because dude got to the top of the mountain just to fall right off of it. Well, I guess all we can hope is that he has learned his lesson and life only continues to get better for him.
Sources:
“Ghosts of prospects past” – The Bleacher Report
The Dark Side Of Life 