Maurice Clarett

Maurice Edward Clarett (born October 29, 1983) is a former American football running back who played for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team.

He also played professionally for the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League (UFL).

Clarett was the first freshman to be the leading rusher on a national championship team since Ahman Green of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1995.

Clarett's time at Ohio State University was marked by several troubling incidents.

During his freshman year at Ohio State University in 2002, he helped lead the Buckeyes to a national championship.

Clarett was a 2002 U.S. Army All-American.

Clarett received an offer from Ohio State University and verbally committed to Ohio State over offers from Notre Dame, Fresno State, and the University of Miami.

He formally committed to the Buckeyes in February 2002.

Ohio State's coach, Jim Tressel, had previously been coach of Clarett's hometown Youngstown State Penguins.

Later, Clarett received the USA Today Offensive High School Player of the Year and Parade All-American distinctions.

Clarett started at Ohio State for one season, rushing for 1,237 yards (then a school record for a freshman) and scoring 18 touchdowns, which helped the Buckeyes to a 14–0 record and the 2002 BCS National Championship.

He was seen yelling at his position coach during the Northwestern–Ohio State game in the 2002 season.

In December 2002, he publicly maligned OSU officials for not paying for him to fly home for the funeral of a friend and accused administrators of lying when they said he had not filed the necessary paperwork.

Clarett has battled depression and alcoholism since as early as 2002.

He scored the winning touchdown against Miami with a five-yard run in the second overtime in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.

Clarett also made a key defensive play in that game, stealing the ball on the Miami 28 from Hurricanes' safety Sean Taylor, who was returning an interception from the end zone of a pass thrown by Craig Krenzel.

After that play, Ohio State kicked a field goal, giving them a 10-point lead at the time.

In July 2003, Clarett became the center of an academic scandal when a teaching assistant told the New York Times that Clarett had received preferential treatment from professors, claiming he had not attended any classes during his only year at Ohio State.

However, the investigation did not find sufficient evidence of academic misconduct.

He was suspended for the 2003 season on September 10, 2003.

Clarett moved to Los Angeles after his dismissal from Ohio State, and, while living there, sued to be included in the 2004 NFL Draft.

He won his case at trial.

However, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision.

In his attempt to enter the 2004 NFL Draft, Clarett challenged the NFL's rule that a player must wait three years after graduating from high school to declare for the draft.

Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin initially ruled based on anti-trust grounds that the NFL could not bar Clarett from participating in the 2004 draft.

This decision was later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in an opinion by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarett's petition for certiorari was refused by the Supreme Court.

Clarett and USC wide receiver Mike Williams, who were both hoping to enter the draft early, were then barred from the draft by the NFL.

Later, because they both signed agents before being denied the opportunity to join the NFL Draft, the NCAA refused to reinstate the college eligibility of Clarett or Williams.

In a widely unexpected move, Clarett was drafted on the first day of the 2005 NFL Draft with the final pick of the third round (#101 overall) by the Denver Broncos.

Clarett is well known for unsuccessfully challenging the NFL's draft eligibility rules requiring a player to be three years removed from high school, and for his tumultuous life outside of football, including his dismissal from Ohio State, several arrests, and imprisonment.

In the years after his release from prison, Clarett became a public speaker, talking candidly about his previous struggles and recovery.

Later, Clarett founded a behavioral health agency in Youngstown, Ohio.

In recent years, Clarett was appointed to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce Board in February 2022.

After displaying his abilities as a freshman tailback on the Austintown-Fitch High School varsity team, Clarett transferred to Warren G. Harding High School and garnered national attention.

When he graduated from Harding, national publications ranked him among the top 100 players nationally.

Subsequently, Clarett worked with trainers in preparation for the 2005 NFL Combine, hoping to impress for the upcoming draft.

It was also in Los Angeles that Clarett's problems with drugs began.

Notably, while the NFL was successful in blocking Clarett & Williams from entering the draft before 2005, they did allow Pitt wideout Larry Fitzgerald to enter the 2004 draft despite only playing at Pitt for two years without redshirting due to him spending a year at Valley Forge Military Academy and College after high school for academic reasons and the NFL considering that to satisfy the three-year rule; the league considered Clarett & Fitzgerald's cases to be separate.

In February 2005, he participated in the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

During a press conference, he uttered the phrase: "It's a humbling thing being humble."