Marcus Thomas Arrested

Yet another Gator in the news. Denver Broncos DT Marcus Thomas was arrested in Jacksonville for possession of cocaine. Thomas had been in trouble back in Gainesville for possession of marijuana. As punishment, he was suspended by Urban Meyer against St Mary's School for the Blind and Deaf and Grambling A&M Tech before being reinstated against LSU.

But I'll stop hating on UF to give you my two cents on a far bigger issue. The NFL has way too many players getting in trouble and putting themselves in these kinds of situations. I know they have that rookie symposium that lasts a couple of days, but it isn't enough to help these young men deal with their fame and their fortune.

Many of these players come from broken homes or impoverished parts of their hometowns. They may have gone to school, but they haven't been educated. We all know athletes get pampered at major universities. Combine an uneducated mind with a lot of money and temptation, and you get situations where guys throw their lives away because they don't know any better.

I wish the NFL would have people in every NFL city assigned to rookie players for 2 or 3 seasons. Check up on them once every two weeks. See how they're doing. Make sure they are on the right path. All you would need is one or two guys per city. It wouldn't prevent all the mistakes that are being made, but it would help many of these young men to have a mentor. Somebody who can show these players how to detach themselves from bad friends and to stay away from trouble.