Pubdate: Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Source: Enterprise-Journal, The (MS)
Copyright: 2005 The Enterprise-Journal
Contact:  http://www.enterprise-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/917

DONTAE WALKER PAYS BIG PRICE FOR DRUGS

For college football fans, the name Dontae Walker has been familiar
over the years for a couple of reasons.

First, the former Clinton High School star gained national recognition
in the late 1990s as one of the top schoolboy running backs in the
nation his senior year.

Universities across the country offered scholarships for Walker to
suit up for their football team. He ultimately chose to stay in the
magnolia state and wear the maroon and white of Mississippi State University.

Walker's first two years in Starkville were everything they should
have been. The bruising tailback with breakaway speed was a catalyst
for Bulldog teams that won two bowl games. His junior year, though,
his career embarked on a downward spiral that included Walker being
booed off the field the last home game of his senior year in
Starkville. The free fall culminated recently with Walker being
sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of felony drug
charges in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court.

Anybody who knows the least bit about football talent will tell you
that Walker had the size and speed to be an NFL running back. He
probably could have made millions.

Instead, he will be in his 40s or older when he emerges from his
sentence, unable to realize his vast athletic potential. For football
fans, what an abysmal waste of talent. For Walker, what an incredibly
poor decision. 
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