Like It or Not, This Is His Call

Tommy Maddox might not even make an NFL team.

That’s what kind of chance he is taking, leaving school.

He might not be drafted for several rounds. Then he might get dumped from the squad in training camp.

Or he might become a professional bench warmer, such as Andre Ware. Or he might end up snowbound in Saskatchewan or some such place, as did Major Harris.

And that could be the last we hear of the kid with a gun for an arm, Tommy Automatic.

He could rue the day he left UCLA.

But you know what?

He probably won’t.

Like Todd Marinovich, Maddox probably will catch on somewhere, then learn and earn on the job, then eventually get his chance to play for pay.

And you know what else?

It doesn’t matter.

You know why?

1. It’s his life.

2. Life is risk.

3. There’s a Canadian league, and there’s a European league, so if all Tommy truly wants to do is make a living playing football, then there are ways for him to make a living playing football.

Naturally, there is money to be made. We all need money. George Bush spent much of his State of the Union address talking about money.

Maddox definitely will make some. For all we know, Tommy could be needy, not greedy.

And for all he knows, something could happen next season to cost him money if he stays in school. A broken arm, a torn-up knee. (It happens.) A damaged reputation. (Check under: “Detmer, Ty.”) An NFL rookie salary cap that restricts earning power. (It’s in the works.)

Still, I trust that somebody explained to Tommy what he will earn from the next NFL draft could be peanuts compared to what he could have been offered (long-term) after the 1993 NFL draft, had he excelled for UCLA and gone high in the first round.

Frankly, I’m stunned that Maddox did this, and I hope the kid knows what he’s doing.

Is it too late to turn back? Sean LaChappelle did. Sean got cold feet Friday.

Maddox’s favorite receiver, LaChappelle decided to turn pro right along with his quarterback. Even his parents thought Sean was turning pro. At the last minute, though, he changed his mind.

And you wonder why Terry Donahue is one of the highest-paid people in scholastic California? Think of the money he must spend on ulcer medicine.

Donahue is no dummy. No matter what he says, the coach knows what UCLA’s record was before Maddox blossomed as a quarterback. He also knows what USC’s record was after Marinovich left that school high and dry at quarterback.

Maddox probably assumes that NFL teams are desperate for quarterbacks. That some of them are still clinging to 35-year-old backups, or going crazy trying to replace injured starters.

Perhaps he forgets how many quarterbacks don’t even get to be on the official roster on Sundays. That they get to remain on the team strictly in case of emergencies.

As far as I can tell, no NFL team is going to hurl bags of money at Tommy Maddox.

He said Friday he is willing to “start slowly,” spend his apprenticeship “learning the system.” Is this the way a David Klingler approaches pro football? Doesn’t a Klingler expect to bump some bad team’s starting quarterback right out of a job?

Maddox always will be remembered for the way he closed the 1990 season, for that 45-42 game with USC.

What Maddox also had better remember is the way he closed the 1991 season, quarterbacking a 6-3 game against an Illinois team that couldn’t even beat Northwestern.

He ain’t ready for the Washington Redskins, let me tell you.

But Tommy is no dummy, either. He saw how Troy Aikman was brought along gradually. He saw how Marinovich survived. Maybe he doesn’t care that Aikman spent his rookie season on his back, or that Marinovich rarely got his pants dirty.

Is Maddox betraying UCLA?

Of course not.

Tommy didn’t make the rules. A kid picks football for his profession. He cannot become a professional unless he attends college. And he is not foolish enough to pay for his education as long as somebody is willing to pay it for him. But since he needs no diploma to be a professional--unlike, say, law or medicine pros--the kid has no obligation except to himself.

Maddox agonized over his decision, yes.

“This gave me a lot of sleepless nights,” he said.

But he didn’t come to UCLA from his Louisiana and Texas upbringing to get a degree. He came to become another Archie Manning, his boyhood idol. He came to enhance his chances of playing football for money.

What’s that make him? Ungrateful?

No. Human.