Sports360AZ
The great thing about life is that we all make mistakes, and depending on the severity of those mistakes, we can be forgiven for them and we’re able to move on with our lives, essentially as if nothing happened.
If you’re in the public eye, like a movie star or a professional athlete, it’s a little harder to get that quick forgiveness, because in this age of social media, your transgressions are magnified to the highest degree, and you’re seemingly ran through the ringer and then you’re forgiven and/or forgotten.
Former LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu is the perfect example of an athlete who’s been through it all because of his personal issues, and who’s trying to clean up his image with some very reliable help from a former teammate, Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Mathieu had the world at his fingertips, before it all slipped away.
Mathieu was the 2011 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist. “Honey Badger” was the man.
Then drugs took over his life and they threw him off a cliff, and subsequently, head coach Les Miles threw him off the team, just when he was about to explode in Baton Rouge, La.
In various interviews leading up to the Combine, Mathieu openly admitted that he might have been afraid of his own successes, and he sought an escape with marijuana.
Thankfully for him, he was smart enough to check himself into a treatment facility to get clean, before he was arrested for possession of marijuana.
If you’re Mathieu, and you’re in this kind of situation, there has to be a point where you say, ‘Enough is enough,’ especially knowing how much talent you have and what you can offer to an NFL franchise.
In come Peterson Jr. and Sr. to save the day, Mathieu’s career and his future.
Peterson Sr. runs a combine camp in Boca Raton, Fla., and from all accounts, Mathieu’s worked out there and has done one-on-one with Peterson Jr., who’s reportedly pushed him very hard during the workouts.
Peterson – who was the fifth overall pick of the Cardinals in the 2011 NFL Draft – knows a little bit about the pressures of being a star athlete, and so far has taken it, ran with it and done well with the Cardinals, so he makes perfect sense being the one to mentor Mathieu, not just because they’ve fought wars together at LSU and they know each other, but because he’s the perfect role model, the ideal man for Mathieu to emulate.
Mathieu was an impact player for the Tigers, and, over time, can be an impact player for an NFL franchise. He’s got the proper guidance from the Peterson men, and now he’s got to show 32 prospective employers that he’s ready to take that next step in his progression to manhood, which is the NFL.
