Clarett

MAURICE CLARETT might have been a chump in the classroom. He might have been an aloof churl among his former Ohio State teammates. But the gifted running back who scored the Buckeyes that coveted national title is likely to be a real winner again, sooner than anyone can imagine. Watch out, all you NFL lawyers. The big test is officially upon you, now that Clarett has filed suit challenging the league's eligibility rule - the one that arbitrarily restricts entry into Paul Tagliabue's juggernaut.

Troy Smith has silenced the skeptics before. As a high school senior in Cleveland, Smith was one of the last players added to a celebrated recruiting class at Ohio State that featured Maurice Clarett, A.J. Hawk and Santonio Holmes. Patriots@Ravens Monday, 8:30 p.m., Ch. 13, ESPN, 1090 AM, 97.9 FM Line: Patriots by 20

RIGHT NOW, the NFL doesn't have to worry about Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett taking legal action to change its eligibility requirements and force his way into the league. But someday, someone will, and the NFL might join the other major sports leagues that allow high school players to be drafted. Clarett, who rushed for 1,237 yards as a freshman last season, has been in the news lately because he is being held out of practice while the university and the NCAA investigate his use of a 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Would Maurice Clarett have stayed out of trouble if he had finished out his career at Ohio State? As an alumnus of Ohio State, I can say there is plenty of trouble to be found in Columbus when you are B.M.O.C. Unfortunately, his path would be the same. Carla Corroto Baltimore

Amid all the bizarre details coming out of Maurice Clarett's arrest in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday morning, one stood out above the others. It's no easy task, mind you, to stand out in a tale in which "assault rifle," "mace," "taser," "bulletproof vest" and "Grey Goose" appear in the same paragraph. But this did stand out: Clarett's face. In photos and video clips of his being brought into custody, he looked a lot older than 22. His face, expression and demeanor looked worn down to the core.

Unless the NFL heaves a legal Hail Mary at Maurice Clarett, you can get ready to kiss the league's three-year rule goodbye. It's simply a matter of time. Then open the floodgates and watch the chaos unfold. Clarett is the Ohio State sophomore who was suspended after an academic scandal and a falsified stolen-car police report. With a national title in his back pocket and nowhere to play, he has opted to challenge the NFL rule that requires a player be out of high school three years before becoming eligible for the league draft.

Nobody said that winning a national championship - or recruiting Maurice Clarett in the first place - would be easy. The attention the Ohio State Buckeyes received for beating Miami in last season's Fiesta Bowl for the national championship seems like a distant memory, overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Clarett. It ultimately led to yesterday's announcement in Columbus, Ohio, that the talented sophomore tailback has been ruled ineligible for the season. In announcing that Clarett had been suspended for accepting thousands of dollars of improper benefits and later lying to investigators from the university and the NCAA, Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger didn't quite close the door on a Buckeyes career that most believe is over.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Suspended running back Maurice Clarett is not meeting academic conditions Ohio State set for him to be reinstated to the team, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Columbus Dispatch obtained letters written by university officials to Clarett, warning him that poor performance in two classes could harm his chances of playing for the Buckeyes again. An Oct. 29 letter by athletic director Andy Geiger said African-American studies professor Viola Newton had forbidden Clarett from returning to her class after he missed at least five sessions and slept during others.

POOR Aaron Rodgers, right? Waited so long to get drafted, left all by himself, cameras trained on him, the world seemingly mocking him. Boo hoo. Compared to what Maurice Clarett endured before being drafted, the Cal quarterback had a day at the beach. Clarett, who carried Ohio State to a national title in January 2003, waited two years to get drafted. Some people said Rodgers has poor mechanics. Other people said Clarett was a criminal, a liar, a cheater, a head case, a quitter and a snitch.

Maurice Clarett, the talented but troubled Ohio State tailback who is sitting out the 2003 college season after being suspended for violating NCAA rules, yesterday filed suit in a New York federal court against the NFL over its long-standing early-eligibility policy. Through his attorney, Alan C. Milstein, Clarett is claiming that the rule, which prohibits players from entering the NFL draft until three years after their high school class has graduated, violates federal antitrust laws.

Amid all the bizarre details coming out of Maurice Clarett's arrest in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday morning, one stood out above the others. It's no easy task, mind you, to stand out in a tale in which "assault rifle," "mace," "taser," "bulletproof vest" and "Grey Goose" appear in the same paragraph. But this did stand out: Clarett's face. In photos and video clips of his being brought into custody, he looked a lot older than 22. His face, expression and demeanor looked worn down to the core.

IF, AT SOME POINT this season, USC quarterback Matt Leinart breaks his arm or blows out his knee, don't be one of the Monday Morning Quarterbacks in a rush to point out that he should have turned pro after winning the Heisman Trophy last season. And don't feel sorry for him either. Instead, do something that's as illogical as it is wonderful. Applaud his decision anyway. Applaud Leinart - who in all likelihood passed up a guaranteed $25 million as the first pick in the NFL draft to return for his senior season - because he wanted to hold onto something that doesn't, and shouldn't ever, have a price tag. His youth.

POOR Aaron Rodgers, right? Waited so long to get drafted, left all by himself, cameras trained on him, the world seemingly mocking him. Boo hoo. Compared to what Maurice Clarett endured before being drafted, the Cal quarterback had a day at the beach. Clarett, who carried Ohio State to a national title in January 2003, waited two years to get drafted. Some people said Rodgers has poor mechanics. Other people said Clarett was a criminal, a liar, a cheater, a head case, a quitter and a snitch.

COLLEGE PARK - Good times have been hard to come by, of late, for Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger, so the opportunities to watch the NCAA tournament successes of the Buckeyes' men's ice hockey and women's basketball teams are to be savored. "This is the fun part. This is the gravy. This is why we do this. It's good stuff," said Geiger earlier this week during a day off in the women's basketball tournament. There hasn't been enough gravy lately for Geiger, who will retire April 15 after 34 years as an athletic director in a variety of spots, from Brown to Penn to Stanford and to Maryland, before leaving in 1994 to head to Columbus.

INDIANAPOLIS - Joe Gibbs danced, Steve Mariucci hedged and Maurice Clarett ran, although not very well. Day 3 of the NFL's scouting combine raised more questions than it answered yesterday. Chief among them were these thorny predicaments: Will the Washington Redskins be able to accommodate wide receiver Laveranues Coles' trade request and still resolve their growing salary cap crisis? Does the imminent arrival of quarterback Jeff Garcia in Detroit push three-year Lions starter Joey Harrington out on a short limb?

INDIANAPOLIS - Maurice Clarett had it all and then he had nothing. Three years ago, he was a celebrity at Ohio State, and then he became a pariah. In one long, slow-motion slide toward oblivion, Clarett went from ramrod on the Buckeyes' last national championship team to national afterthought. Or worse, national embarrassment. Now he's back. Back from self-imposed exile in California. Back from a two-year hiatus from the football field. And in that rarity of rarities, back in the NFL draft.

With the draft clock running, a federal appeals court in New York issued yesterday a stay that likely will prevent former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett and Southern California sophomore receiver Mike Williams from playing in the National Football League next season. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively nullified a decision by District Judge Shira Scheindlin in February that overturned an NFL bylaw banning players who are not three years removed from high school graduation.

The melodrama known as the NFL's eligibility rule rolls back into the courtroom today as the league again attempts to block former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett from this weekend's draft. A three-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is expected to hear oral arguments on the NFL's appeal of a lower court decision, which ruled that the league's longstanding eligibility bylaw violated antitrust law. On Feb. 5, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin overturned the league bylaw that allows only players at least three years removed from high school graduation into the annual college draft.

THE HONORABLE RUTH Bader Ginsburg got it right. She opted to leave the Supreme Court out of the Maurice Clarett crusade so the court can decide more important things, like presidential elections. That doesn't mean Justice Ginsburg wasn't wrong. What will Rush Limbaugh and/or Al Franken have to say about this head-scratching refusal by a judge to overstep her bounds? An opera-loving, liberal champion of individual rights, Justice Ginsburg let the people down yesterday. As former Washington running back John Riggins once shouted to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor during a 1985 dinner function: Loosen up, Ruthie, baby.

Maurice Clarett's latest legal maneuver to force his way into this weekend's NFL draft ended with rejections by two Supreme Court justices yesterday. The former running back from Ohio State appeared to have exhausted his options after Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens denied emergency appeals by Clarett's lawyer to have him reinstated in the two-day college draft that begins tomorrow. No sooner had Ginsburg rejected the first appeal yesterday morning than Alan Milstein, Clarett's attorney, submitted the second.