Clarett is back at practice, hasn't yet made perfect

Maurice Clarett is back on the football field at The Ohio State University, but only for the purposes of practice.
Clarett will miss at least the first game of the season -- six seems to be the number of games he's most likely to have to sit out -- which will be a bitter pill to swallow for a young man who has made football a large part of much of his life.
But college is supposed to be a learning experience, and so it is turning out to be for Clarett.
He completed his high school studies at Warren G. Harding High School in Warren early so that he could report to OSU for the spring quarter of 2002, the better to prepare for what was to become a historic football season.
To the public eye, everything appeared to be going according to plan. Injuries forced Clarett to sit out three games, but he still set a rushing record for a freshman at OSU, and in post-season play he scored the touchdown that gave OSU its first national championship in 34 years.
The only reason the public had to think that anything was wrong was a flap over Clarett's desire to come home to attend a funeral of a friend. He claimed the university was less than supportive, the university claimed he didn't fill out the necessary paper work. But that and a few other stories could be taken with a grain of salt; few teenagers are equipped to deal with the national media without making a mistake or two.
Complications
But obviously more was going on than met the eye. Clarett is now the focus of two university and NCAA inquiries. One involves allegations that he and other players were given preferable treatment in a class. The other involves Clarett filing what he has since acknowledged was an inflated report of losses from a car he had borrowed from an auto dealer and which was broken into.
It is that theft report that has brought the current suspension. The question of academic favoritism remains under investigation.
Losing half of a season is a serious loss for any athlete. For an athlete who had reason to believe he'd be in the running for a Heisman Trophy if he had a full and healthy sophomore year, the loss could be shattering.
We hope that Clarett can accept his punishment, recognize the errors he has made -- which are certainly no more than many 19-year-olds have made after going away to college -- and learn from his mistakes.
People in the Mahoning Valley have known for years that Clarett had enormous talent on the football field and have been rooting for him and his teams. He has the opportunity assess his situation, adjust his goals as necessary (a Heisman won in the junior year is not a trifling accomplishment) and to do himself and his fans proud.