COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Asked how close he came to losing
everything -- a spot on the Ohio State football team, school, his
freedom, his life -- Alex Boone held up his thumb and forefinger,
leaving just a tiny gap.
Last April 2, Boone celebrated being named a starting offensive
tackle by drinking himself into a stupor and then getting behind
the wheel of his pickup truck. He doesn't remember hitting a car on
a campus street.
That night, rather than possibly costing him or someone else
their life, he might have saved his.
"I could have done something worse," he said Thursday during
Ohio State's annual media day. "I could have hit somebody. I could
have killed myself, my girlfriend. It could have been terrible. I
thank God every day that I didn't do that. I really do. I wake up
every morning and I think, you know, I could be waking up in a jail
cell right now."
Boone, who had his first beer at 14, liked being portrayed as a
wild man.
"Everybody kind of looked at me as a partyer," he said. "I
kind of feel bad about that now. I regret doing that."
In the days after his arrest, there was a public outcry that
another high-profile Ohio State athlete had flouted the law and
gone bad.
"You have to make good decisions on a daily basis, represent
yourself, your family, your team appropriately," athletic director
Gene Smith said. "We preach that every single day. Over the last
year, I think our team has done a marvelous job in that regard.
Every now and then you're going to hit a hiccup. Alex Boone
committed that hiccup."
Ashamed, the 6-foot-8, 325-pound sophomore pleaded no contest to
drunken driving, paid a $300 fine and had his driver's license
suspended for 180 days.
He also was stunned when he spoke to those closest to him.
"I talked to a lot of my family members and they said, 'You
need to stop," he said. "They all went sober with me, which is
really good. After that I just went kind of stopped and said, 'I
don't need this. It's making me not the kind of person I could
be."
Coach Jim Tressel dropped him to second team on the depth chart
and warned him that he had to change his ways or he would be gone.
In response, the new Boone lost 50 pounds and will likely start
when the Buckeyes open their season Sept. 2 at home against
Northern Illinois. The 19-year-old has been sober since spring. No
longer does he need a drink to have a good time.
He says he is a new man. His teammates have noticed the
difference.
"He's made some good decisions," fellow tackle Steve Rehring
said. "He's got his head on straight. He did what he needed to do
to play here and be good here."
Offensive guard T.J. Downing said the change has been
remarkable.
"Alex has become a smarter person because of it," he said.
"He knows there's certain things he has to look out for. And
everything that makes you smarter off the field makes you stronger
on the field. It opens your eyes a little more and you don't take
things for granted."
Boone said he regrets starting to drink because he feels so much
better now. He said there is no pressure to go out every night and
waste his time and money on alcohol.
"I tell people all the time: Don't be like me. Live through me.
You can go out and have a good time (but) if you're not 21, don't
drink. It's not worth it. It's not worth the hassle, it's not worth
the things that it will do to you," he said.
Boone knows how close he came to throwing everything away.
"You know, when that happened to me, everything I'd done -- the
community service, the practices, the games and all, -- everything
went out the window. Nothing mattered any more. I was just a big
idiot," he said. "I kind of look back and I'm like, 'You know
what? How many kids right now are doing the same thing when someone
should have said just don't drink?"