Colleges

Clarett is a suspect in robbery

By wire services
Published January 2, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Maurice Clarett could have been a senior at Ohio State, playing today in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame. Instead, the troubled former Buckeyes running back stands accused of robbing two people at gunpoint in an alley behind a bar early Sunday.

Clarett, 22, fled the scene and was wanted on two counts of aggravated robbery, police said. He left in a white sport utility vehicle with two other men, police said.

The victims said Clarett "was drunk and might be sick." The police said that after Clarett allegedly took a black cell phone from the couple, Tashona Corvi, owner of the Opium Lounge, came outside and Clarett "hugged her and began dragging her down the alley toward the vehicle he fled in."

According to the police report, Corvi said Clarett displayed a .45-caliber handgun by raising his shirt.

Clarett helped the Buckeyes win the national championship in 2002 as a freshman, but sat out the 2003 season after he was charged with misdemeanor falsification for filing a police report. He was cut by the Denver Broncos in August, and has not played in a regular-season game of any kind since that the national title game in January 2003.

"Obviously, my reaction to that is it's sad," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.

Clarett's agent, Steve Feldman, said Sunday night that Clarett had planned to sign with an NFL team today, anticipating an assignment to NFL Europe. Feldman said Clarett had been working out in Los Angeles but recently returned to Columbus.

RICE: Tulsa defensive coordinator Todd Graham was introduced as coach. "There's no doubt in my mind we're going to build a winner here," said Graham, 41, who was a two-time NAIA All-America defensive back at East Central University in Oklahoma in the 1980s.

[Last modified January 2, 2006, 02:30:25]