The next few days are a great time if you’re an NFL fan. It’s a time where you can get your jollies by watching the spectacle (or snoozefest) that is the NFL Draft.
I’m not a fan of any of the drafts. I want that clear right now. I may be a fan of the sport the draft is facilitating; however, I think it’s much ado about nothing. It’s the chance to speculate to a degree never before imagined (ESPN comes to mind) about players who haven’t played a second in the league. I would be totally happy with the NFL if it conducted its draft in private, then let us know of the results afterward.
But there is a good thing that comes out of professional sports drafts: redemption. Where else can you see guys who had season-ending surgeries or who were suspended get another shot at starting over?
Nowhere can I find a more appropriate example than LeGarrette Blount. You remember him, right? He’s the Oregon running back who punched Boise State player Byron Hout on Sept. 3, 2009. Blount was immediately suspended for the entire season, only to be given a reduced sentence if he was able to climb the “ladders” head coach Chip Kelly put in place for him.
I don’t want to focus on the negative side of this story, however. Blount’s story is by far a success story. It’s something I feel is one of the most positive sides of the football team this year. At the beginning of the season we called for swift, strong punishment, and reacted strongly when Kelly gave him a second chance. But second chances can be some of the best motivators, and this was the case with Blount.
I watched him work his butt off every day in practice, doing whatever Kelly wanted him to do. He went to class. He wrote a letter to the campus. And most importantly, he changed.
In the end, he was rewarded with a few carries in the Civil War. It gave me goose bumps when I heard the cheers of the Autzen Stadium, and it was absolutely electric when he dove over the goal line to score a touchdown. It was even more special to see him score in the Rose Bowl, in front of the nation, and to prove to everyone he wasn’t the same person who was shown to the nation throwing a haymaker in September.
After the Civil War, Blount talked like a man reborn. He wasn’t arrogant; he was humbled. He understood he made a tremendous mistake on national television at the beginning of the season, and it took him all season long to earn his way back.
And now, he’s on the verge of playing in the NFL. He won’t be drafted in the first round, and most likely not even in the second, but there’s speculation he could go in the third or fourth rounds. Who would have thought this was even possible when he was suspended? Not me. I’d thought he just threw away his chance at changing his life.
That’s why I’m so pleased he’s proved everyone wrong. Like every person reading this column right now, he made a mistake, and he had to face the consequences. He’s made this year’s draft interesting to me, because I legitimately hope he goes to a good team.
Blount’s turnaround should be the blueprint for Jeremiah Masoli. If anything, fans have proved again and again they are a forgiving lot, and if you show genuine remorse, and a desire to change, they will appreciate you. If Masoli’s goal is to play in the NFL, he should call up his friend LeGarrette and get pointers on what it’s like to fall from the spotlight and have to work your way back up. He should take a lesson in being humble, put his head to the grindstone and get to work. This has already been obvious with his reduced role during spring scrimmages, but we need to see this through next year without him making any more headlines.
I hope, for his sake, Masoli changes. Blount’s story has changed to a positive one, and it’s one that will be complete over the next couple of days when he is chosen by an NFL team. It probably won’t make much of a headline in the city where his new team is — that will be for the team’s first round draft pick — but it should make at least a small wave here in Eugene.
Blount gave us an exciting season his junior year and a chance to cheer his comeback last year. I wish him, Ed Dickson, and every other Duck all the best in the NFL.
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