Maurice Clarett's shot at redemption?

Maurice Clarett, the former Ohio State running back that pretty much threw his football career away, is training in hopes of becoming part of the USA rugby team. Clarett was all kinds of an idiot, but it looks like he has turned a corner.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1576627-former-embattled-osu-rb-maurice-clarett-training-for-2016-rugby-olympic-team?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=webs-best-sports-lists

 

I'd be shocked if he's playing high-level 7s next year. Anyway, the U.S. won't take a bunch of scrubs to the Olympics. There are a number of professional 15s players who will be available for the Olympics that normally skip 7s due to club commitments.

 

He should be trying to figure out how to make a living outside of sports instead of worrying about redemption. A part of me thinks this is just a scheme to work into the upcoming 30 for 30 film about his life.

 

You mean falling back on that quality education he got at The Ohio State University? Oops

 

As best I can tell, 7's has kind of evolved into its own separate discpline, apart from 15's. The U.S. team has a guy on it named Carlin Isles, a 23-year-old who just started playing the game after a track and football career in college. He runs a 4.15 40.
If Clarett were 5-8 years younger, I could see him doing it, but not now. He'll be 33 or so in 2016.
USA Rugby's strategy with 7's seems to be taking athletes and making them into rugby players. In this country with rugby being what it is, that's probably the way to go, but they still won't match the countries where kids grow up playing the game.