Maurice Clarett talks about culture problem at Ohio State
Former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett joined the show to talk about his former coach Jim Tressel being forced to resign and the culture at major college football programs.
Clarett said that players from the inner city aren’t prepared for college. They’ve never seen anyone succeed in an academics so it doesn’t mean anything to them. “Guys in inner cities only believe what they see,” Clarett said. He said it’s a culture problem.
Clarett said he didn’t need to sell memorabilia because people recognized him and then he’d form a relationship with them. “There was no need to,” Clarett said. “I was on a different level just through playing.”
Clarett made it clear that players go out and form their own relationships in the community. “Coaches and university have no control of what the players are doing,” Clarett said.
Clarett did defend players that get cars in college. He said it’s not so bad to go from place to place. He said it’s not like they’re committing crimes in those cars.
Clarett still had very kind things to say about Jim Tressel, who he said earned a lot of respect at Ohio State. He said Clarett is a “man’s man.” And he doesn’t think Tressel was two-faced. “You can’t be a fraud for 30 years,” Clarett said. He said he may not have felt that way back when he was kicked out of the program after his freshman year, but he certainly does now that he understands more about life.
Clarett talked about the impact of being in prison had on him. “Once you live with nothing … your whole perspective on life changes. I can’t sit here and feel the same way,” Clarett said.