Ohio State Goes On Without Clarett

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Defending national champion Ohio State opened its doors to returning players Tuesday. The only one missing was the team’s biggest star. That was expected.

Running back Maurice Clarett has been sidelined indefinitely because of investigations by the NCAA and a university committee.

It was not expected that he would also miss a meeting in Canton, Ohio, on Sunday with newly inducted Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen.

Clarett’s high school coach, Thom McDaniels, had helped set up the meeting with Allen, who was enshrined in the Hall earlier that day.

“Marcus wanted to meet him,” McDaniels said. “He thought he might be able to enlighten him, help him and direct him in a path that perhaps Marcus has already gone down.

“Maurice just needed to be where he needed to be. He didn’t even call us.”

Clarett set a record for Ohio State freshmen last year by rushing for 1,237 yards. He scored the winning touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl to give the Buckeyes a 31-24 win over Miami, securing the school’s first undisputed national title since 1968.

He missed all of spring practice because of a shoulder injury.

This summer, a teaching assistant at Ohio State contended that Clarett walked out of a midterm exam last fall and later passed the course when he was given an oral exam. Ohio State named a 10-person panel to investigate.

Then the NCAA started looking into an April incident in which Clarett’s car -- on loan overnight from a car dealership -- was broken into. In the police report, Clarett said he had lost more than $6,000 in clothing, cash and stereo equipment in the theft. He later acknowledged that he had exaggerated his losses to police.

The NCAA is investigating Clarett’s use of the 2001 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

“The reality is Maurice Clarett wants nothing more than to play college football and be back with his teammates,” Clarett’s lawyer, Scott Schiff, said in a phone message to Associated Press. “That’s the objective of the university and everyone around him who is working to overcome some of the inquiries.”

Schiff had told USA Today that Clarett might challenge the NFL’s rule that prohibits players from making themselves available for the draft until they are at least three years removed from their final high school season. Clarett is beginning his second year at Ohio State.

But NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that the league would defend its rule in court if necessary, and that Clarett would have to play in Canada if he wanted to turn pro.