Here's an interesting footnote to last night's Giants-Jets game. I noted the name of Ryan Perrilloux as the New York Football Giants' (as Cosell used to say) third stringer; it didn't quite ring a bell until I saw on his card that he is a Jacksonville State alum.
Jacksonville State... wasn't he the guy who did what the Honey Badger was thinking of doing before going into rehab, getting kicked out of LSU and playing I-AA ball to avoid sitting out a year?
Yep. Cue Wikipedia. He spent two years at JSU and went undrafted; he was on the practice squad of the Giants last year after being cut by the Vikings before the 2010 season.
Perrilloux wasn't quite the talent that Mattieu is, but that decision may have cost him quite a chunk of change; spending time to get your house in order emotionally and with any substance-abuse issues might have been the better decision for Perrilloux.
Conversely, Mattieu can get some good mentoring from John Lucas (who almost lost an NBA career to drugs but turned it around and now mentors others in that boat) and show up at the Indy combine clean and sober next winter; he'll be further ahead than running back punts for McNeese State this fall.
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