Road to Redemption

Casey Therriault was home for Christmas vacation in 2008 after attending a junior college in Michigan for a semester. Walking out of a bar with a group of friends, a highly intoxicated man (.27 blood-alcohol level) started a verbal argument with Casey. The drunk man swung at Casey and the young man retaliated and knocked him to the ground with one punch. After the punch, he ran from the scene as some of his friends proceeded to beat and kick the man already on the ground.

A couple of weeks later, Casey (and four others) were in court on manslaughter charges. The group of kids beat the man into a coma and he died two weeks after the incident. He ended up accepting a plea bargain and spending a month in jail with a 5 month work-release program, his sentenced reduced because he was the least involved in the attack.

He was a promising quarterback prospect at the time, but with a manslaughter charge to his record, no schools were going to take a chance bringing him in. A new offensive coordinatior, who had been scouting him previously, at Jackson State recruited him and eventually gave him a scholarship offer. The only problem was that Jackson State is a historically black college in Mississippi, a long way away from his hometown in Michigan.

Eventually Casey made it to Jackson State and after a tough adjustment, has found some success. He was the Conference newcomer of the year with 41 total touchdowns, leading Jackson State to an 8-3 record and division title. As Pat Forde says in the article, "At Jackson State, they don't care what color Casey Therriault is. Or what happened in his past. They're happy the 'White Tiger' has made an unlikely home in a Mississippi oasis a great man [MLK] dreamed of decades ago."

John Hirko

Original article: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=6021619