Norm Wood at the Daily Press has a great article out on Andrew Motuapuaka:
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/virginia-tech/dp-spt-feature-virginia-t...
Much of Motuapuaka's first two academic years at Tech weren't unlike the experimental days of most college students. The problem was he got involved with activities that could've threatened his athletic scholarship or, as he envisioned, his life.
He said he partied whenever he could, drank too much and started smoking marijuana daily. Though he'd dabbled with those vices as a junior and senior at Salem High in Virginia Beach, the frequency of his drinking and smoking increased at an alarming rate once he got to Tech.
Something had to change.
Sounds like our starting mike went through a lot of personal struggles and addictions in the last few years. Let's commend him for getting himself back on the right track and hope he can continue moving forward.
Comments
I'm freaking out...I see 3 Snoops!
Hey man, pass it here!
Keep it up Motuapuaka!
And just for fun...
Honestly the alcohol was probably the bigger problem. While marijuana does have some negative side effects it's completely understandable why so many football players smoke it. The amount of brain and physical trauma those guys go through on a consistent basis is insane.
Probably a lot more productive in his days though, whether that be school related or football related.
Honestly, from what I've seen it depends on the person. I never smoked but a friend of mine did about every other day in high school. Straight A's taking AP classes and 1st chair all state musician. He was a year younger than me and would sit next to me in calculus while still clearly high half the time. He said weed helped him clear his mind and focus.
Yeah, it depends, I lived with three stoners for my entire time at VT and all three of them would just sit around and do nothing for a good amount of the week.
Also, a lot of people could probably get straight A's in high school an acid, if they do that in college then I'm impressed.
Like I said we were both in AP classes. We lost touch once I went away to college, but seemed like he sustained a similar level of success from what I saw on Facebook.
Without getting into a huge drug discussion, some of the different strains help people with ADHD focus. It slows down their mind so that they aren't bouncing around in their head.
I think personal motivation is a key factor here. A less motivated kid might become extra lazy and fit the "lazy stoner stereotype", a more focused and motivated individual might use it as a way to relax or calm down, but still be a high level student and prepare effectively for his work.
A good friend of mine smokes marijuana daily and is currently in medical school. He's an incredibly anxious person and he said weed calms him down.
One of the known side effects is also anxiety
Wow, this is quite the article. Hats off to Drew for persevering.
happy to eat my words on motu im glad hes gotten his life on track and he looks like a completely different guy this season
It's the haircut
Perhaps. But cleaner living and motivation can get you moving in the right direction. Hair cut was probably a result of those qualities I mentioned. This guy looks like a totally different player.
Glad he is happier with his life. A question for the keyboard lawyers out there. He's admitting illegal activities that I think are still within the statute of limitations. Any chance the state goes after something like this?
Possession is a crime, not smoking. I believe the possession must be contemporaneous such that the law enforcement catches the individual in the act of possession.
It seemed like he admitted to drunk driving too. I guess nothing would hold up without a breathalyzer or blood test.
Not entirely sure about this. There is a charge that can be levied against someone who is caught using it but not necessarily being in possession (i.e. owning) it, maybe this is what you mean. It's called 'constructive possession' and it's a thing that I'm pretty sure *cough* exists and has been charged *cough* before, maybe somewhere around February 2001. Might carry a small fine and/or 50 hours of community service with a year of probation. *cough*
Not an easy pastime without opposable thumbs
With all that coughing it seems like Feb 2001 wasn't the only time ...
I highly doubt the DA sees a past non-violent crime that he wasn't caught doing but admitted to later as something worthy of the states time and resources.
It's not a criminal offense to say "I smoked weed" or "I drank alcohol underage/drank and drove a vehicle." There must be an investigation, due process of law, and evidence to satisfy the burden of proof for possession of marijuana or underage possession of alcohol/DWI. Unless he was caught in the act by an officer, there's no probable cause to investigate or any actual evidence to go on. A statement without proof is just hearsay.
I don't do criminal defense but if I remember correctly you need more than a confession to convict. Have to have some evidence to corroborate.
Not to mention no prosecutor is interested in bringing anything against.
A confession plus some circunstancial evidence is more than enough to get a person convicted. Having worked a few civil rights cases, it's even possible when law enforcement doubts the guilt of the defendant. Thankfully, that situation is rare. In Andrew's case, I cannot imagine a prosecutor willing to waste time bringing this before a judge.
That OG Kush, it'll get after ya.
For real though, it takes a head screwed on correctly to get that kind of thing sorted out. Good for him. Good for us, too.
A little googling yielded the 700 Club piece if anyone's interested:
http://www1.cbn.com/video/SPR4v2/virginia-tech-linebacker-puts-partying-...
It was Andrew's relationship with Jesus that changed his life for the better.
No, I'm with EuroHokie, I'm pretty sure it's the hair. /s
Also, please remember the two topics on TKP to stay away from religion and politics.
Well considering the source is 700 Club, it's not surprising the author emphasizes that aspect.
I wasn't saying article should or shouldn't have been posted, but Hokie54 clearly made a religious statement. He isn't a frequent commenter so I reminded him that such comments are against community guidelines.
Hokie54 is fine, he just stated a fact from the article. It has been been amazing to see the turnaround from him even last year, considering I was definitely in the camp of hoping we could recruit someone else to replace him.
The fact is that Matu stopped using drugs and alcohol which has caused him to show improvements. Anything else can quickly devolve into a religious argument that I don't want to see here but more improtantly is against community guidelines. Note I'm not saying anyone can't be religious, just don't do it here.
To be honest calling someone out for citing something that was said by Moto himself throws up more flags to me than Hokie54 actually saying it. There is a difference between saying something that Moto said and bringing up religion itself when it wasn't a main point of the article. And I'm just throwing it out there but you saying it was giving up drugs and not his religion that caused the change is still arguing about religion. Just something to think about.
That's not what I said, but I'm out before this gets worse.
That's fair. Back to football.
Thats right but all three articles written about Motu (Bitter, Wood, and 700 Club) attribute his faith for the reason he stopped using drugs and alcohol. Thats not devolving, just the same facts taken from each article. We can both agree that his year of experience is the main reason for his improved play, but great to see he is changing his life all-around for the better and turning into a quiet leader for this football team.
Eh I think you guys are harping on this a little too much. Someone credited a religious motivation (taken from the article, but still) and MVhokie came behind and reminded everyone to not talk about religion.
The same thing happens pretty much every time someone makes a political wise crack, they do it and someone comes behind and drops the "obligatory don't talk about politics" post.
Everybody chill, it's just locker room talk.
Gotta say - this is a KILLER website to have that as a simple motto to help keep chaos in check. Bravo key play!
I think it was the haircut.
The antithetical Samson.
His play this year has been exponentionally better. Too many of us wrote him off after last year. You can see it in the way he plays this year, he's not getting tied up or caught in a block. That tip last week just shows how much better he is this year. Hats off to ya!
Well, I can't judge him for it, but please cut any illegal substances until you are truly finished playing the sport! Trust me, it'll still be there (and it might even be legal by then)! Nothing sucks more than missing your Bowl game because of your bowl game.
That sounds like it should be on a PSA for college athletes. Good job!
You earned yourself an honorary PhD in Creative Writing with that one.
I swear, you have a kid or two and the puns just start coming to you.
Careful.
Before long, those puns will become full-fledged Dad Jokes (TM).
Paging Cody Journell...
Wyatt Shaves his mullet and becomes a penalty machine. Moku shaves his dreads and becomes a tackling machine. This does not compute...
Wyatt should've created a dread-mullet after Motu cut them off. Solves two problems at once!
Preview:
And creates a whole host of additional ones...
Uh... Moto didn't have dreads, just a butt load of curly hair.
I can't be the only one that wonders why he was never disciplined by the football team for partaking in such activities. Don't we test for that stuff all the time? I'm happy he's made some life changing decisions, but don't we test for that stuff regularly?
I am not sure how much this has changed from the 80's, but I will paraphrase what I was told by 3 different Hokie student athletes at the the time. If you are female or in an Olympic Sport you got "randomly" selected for testing fairly often. If you are on the baseball team you never got tested without a lot of notice unless you volunteered. My wife's best friend's son currently is an olympic athlete at UNCheat (could not get a scholarship from VT), and says he gets tested frequently, but knows BBall players that smoke everyday. I expect there are enough loopholes in the rules that any school that wants to give players a pass can, and that we, at least in the past, have participated.
My wife's best friend's son currently is an olympic athlete at UNCheat (could not get a scholarship from VT), and says he gets tested frequently
The choice to cash in on a Trollheeling opportunity is just so strong. My kind of TKP'er, KVille hahahaaaa
NCAA tests at random. Beyond that, teams can test/disapline whenever/however they want. Personal opinion - but I think it's wrong for a school (or employer) to discipline an athlete/student (or employee) for what they do on their own time (providing said person comes in and gets his job done).
That being said, I'm happy for Moto and looking forward to seeing where his new life takes him.
Part of such life changing decisions is to own up to what needed changing, the mistakes in judgement, the foolish behavior that was causing problems in one's life. His honesty and forthright assessment of his shortcomings and mistakes should be met with approval, not investigation. Why would anyone want to mess with his effort?
I'm not saying he should be disciplined for admitting his faults and correcting them. I'm saying, if he admits to having smoked weed on the reg. for two years in college while on the football team, how did he never fail a drug test. That's what I'm saying.
As he said in the article, there are ways around it. Ways to not fail the test.
If they never caught Marcus, my guess is that it is not that strict
IIRC, they did catch him.
Wasn't that his suspension?
I read the title as "The transfer of..." And bout pooped in my pants...
1) Kid starts smoking pot and drinking too much booze. (Well that's college). 2) Man starts to think and re-evaluate his life and habits. 3) Decides he needs a cleaner path and takes that. 4) Everything in his life improves.
5) No one is going punish a young man for making the right decisions post tense.
BTW I saw this exact same story 2 months ago on TV. I believe it was the weekly Hokie show with Lazer and Bernop.
Can we have Andy Moto as a write in candidate for president? maybe have Sean Huelskamp as Vice?
