Maurice Clarett is out of prison and headed to the UFL, so long as the judge allows it of course. He signed a one-year contract with the Omaha Nighthawks Monday after receiving the green light from UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Clarett has spent the last eight years off the field dealing with NCAA suspensions, a botched court case against the NFL, roster cut from the Broncos and a 3 1/2 year prison sentence for armed robbery. So basically the Nighthawks are hoping this whole playing football thing is just like riding a bike, and that he won’t go all Gilbert Arenas on them.

Nighthawks’ GM Rick Mueller had reason to be optimistic of Clarett’s skills after a private workout Sunday:

“The things you can’t coach you can see were there — footwork, hands, those types of things. And he’s in really good physical condition. Those were the things that jumped out more than anything else. He’s done a pretty good job getting himself in condition to play football.”

That’s right son, the prison workout does the body good. He’d probably be MVP of the FFL if he cared to join. You may remember Maurice’s last competitive football days (you’d have to have a pretty damn good memory) as a freshman at Ohio State. It took just one fall and winter quarter on campus for Mo to lead the Buckeyes to a National Championship and rush for 1,237 yards and 18 touchdowns despite missing games to injury. Then he spent spring quarter smoking pot and realizing that school was for chumps.

What’s most incredible is that those glory days were in 2002, but eight years and a respectable stretch in the pin later he’s still only 26 years old. Wasn’t Chris Winkie 34 with grand children when he won his Heisman? Maybe Winkie isn’t the best example of a successful pro career but 26 is is the new 18. I hope Maurice torches it on the field, but who knows if he’ll even get touches with four-time Pro Bowler Ahman Green on the roster. All I’m certain of is the UFL’s given me a reason to watch this season… if they can find a channel to broadcast on.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under College FB, NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.