The Sad Case of Melvin Alaeze Continues

If you recall the name, perhaps it is because we have written about Melvin Alaeze a few times before. The former five-star recruit from Baltimore initially gave a verbal commitment to his home-state Maryland Terps, but had his scholarship pulled due to multiple charges stemming from the possession of marijuana. He then landed at the University of Illinois, where he had an impressive camp, but failed to ever play in a game for the Illini because he could not properly meet the qualifications of the NCAA Clearinghouse. Sadly, it looks like college football is now the least of Melvin Alaeze's worries, as he has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in Baltimore, Maryland. Alaeze was also charged with first-degree assault, armed robbery, car theft and the use of a hand gun in a violent crime. The charges range from five-years to life imprisonment. It is tough to sympathize with a man that participates in violent crimes and, personally, I cannot do it. I also recognize that football players, like everyone else, range from saints to criminals (and, in such a large pool of people, there are bound to be plenty of both), but I feel saddened to know that a young man with so much promise and opportunity could not take advantage of it. I also wonder what happens to the many young men, such as Alaeze, who are treated like princes and promised the world in order to play big-time college football and then, suddenly, find themselves unable to satisfy the NCAA Clearinghouse and out of school, back to their hometowns without any direction. Do these coaches, who sit in their folks' living rooms telling them how they will get them to the NFL and/or a college degree, offer to make some calls to junior colleges (even though the players may not return to their schools when they are done) or D1-AA (or smaller) schools, so that these suddenly directionless 18- or 19-year olds are not left to go back to their same problems without any plans for the future? Perhaps it would not have mattered to Melvin Alaeze...but, then again, maybe getting him into a small, D1-AA or D2 school in the Midwest, rather than back to innercity Baltimore, where trouble was easy for him to find, would have given him a fresh start.