McFadden and the hard times
Former Arkansas running back Darren McFadden’s tough road to the University of Arkansas to next month’s NFL Draft has been beautifully chronicled by New York Daily News writer Rich Cimini.
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From his mother Mini Muhammad admitting to smoking crack, to one of his brothers serving a five-year sentence for dealing drugs, to paternity suits and amazing 40-yard dash times, McFadden has been through hell, according to the feature.
Go back to the master bedroom in the house on South Schiller. That is where Mini disappeared for hours at a time, behind a closed door, smoking crack. She used grocery
money to get high, even stole money from her kids. One of her suppliers, she says, was her oldest son, currently serving five years in a federal prison on a drug conviction.
Darren McFadden closeupI’ve been to hell and back, and I took my children into that hell and the chaos, too,” Muhammad, 56, says in a phone interview, claiming she has been clean for six years. “But we all bonded together and took care of each other.”
That Darren survived, even thrived in such a dysfunctional environment is a small miracle. Surrounded by gangs and death and drugs (”Drugs were a way of life for us,” his mother says), McFadden stayed clean and kept running.
Cimini, a beat writer covering the New York Jets, also writes that McFadden covered the last 20 yards of his 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in 1.80 seconds. He finished the entire run in 4.33.
“He’s going to be a great back in this league,” says Kevin Colbert, the Steelers’ director of football operations. Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett says, “Darren McFadden is The Truth. He’s legit.”
I highly recommend checking this article out.
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[…] McFadden didn’t have enough to worry about with his “character issues,” his mother’s past cocaine addiction spoiling newspaper features and constant media […]