Marcus Vick has thrown his name into the NFL draft.
What a shocker. After strike six, or however many it is up to these days, Vick was thrown off the Virginia Tech football team on Jan. 6.
Vick, the younger brother of Atlanta
Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, most recently faced trouble after stomping on the left calf of Louisville defensive end Elvis Dumervil during the Gator Bowl on Jan. 2. That came just more than two weeks after
being pulled over for speeding and driving with a suspended license.
Whether on the field or in the general public, Marcus Vick has continued to throw away a talent that very few are lucky to possess. Not only can he outrun almost anyone, but Vick’s arm allows him to launch a pass 60 yards with a simple flick of the wrist.
However, the extension of that arm got him into trouble in early October when he made an obscene gesture toward fans when the Hokies played at West Virginia.
Vick was also arrested Feb. 17, 2004, and charged with four misdemeanors: three counts of allowing underage girls to have alcohol and one count of having sex with a 15-year-old girl. Three months later he was convicted of the three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but was found not guilty of having sex with the teenager.
You would think that any rational person would learn his lesson and not put himself in a dangerous situation again. Evidently, Vick is not a rational person.
Less than two months later he was charged with reckless driving and possession of marijuana. Three days after that he was suspended from the football team and on Aug. 3 of that year, Vick was suspended from the university for the 2004 football season. He was cleared to enroll again in January 2005.
During that time, older brother Michael took the immature Virginia Tech reject
into his home in a failed effort to help little Vick mature.
This isn’t the only case of an athlete gone wild, it is just the most prominent one that scrolls across the BottomLine on ESPN.
Too many athletes are treated like gods and are given free passes out of trouble at a young age. They are taught that if they can run faster, throw farther or score more points than their opponents can, they can literally get away with murder (O.J. Simpson). It is time for coaches, administrators and especially parents to stand up and set a good example.
Marcus Vick was given several chances and after being suspended from the Virginia Tech football team twice in one year, he still didn’t learn his lesson.
At least now he can go to the professional level, where earning millions of dollars will cure him of acting like a teenager.

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