Bears provide second chances

RALEIGH -- Former North Carolina linebacker Fred Sparkman was working construction in Tennessee last spring when he got a call from former teammate Isaiah Thomas.

"Want another chance to play football, again?" asked the 6-foot-3, 335-pound defensive lineman, who had been working as child-care specialist for a group home in Winston-Salem.

Five years after they were cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession, suspended from the Tar Heels and ultimately kicked off the team, the 24-year-olds are back on the football field -- at Division II Shaw (4-1), which plays St. Augustine's (1-4) at Millbrook High on Saturday.

The former four-star recruits are the latest examples of coach Darrell Asberry's willingness to take a chance by doling out second (and sometimes third) chances to players who, for one reason or another, didn't make it at the Division I level.

"My biggest philosophy is helping other people when they need to be helped," said Asberry, whose strategy has also helped the Bears win back-to-back CIAA championships. "For some of these kids, we're the closest thing they have to father or brother ... and it gives us the opportunity to help some young men get their degrees, while getting them back on the football field."

It's not uncommon for former Division I players to end up on Division II rosters, be it for playing time (because they can transfer without having to sit out a year), academic problems or scrapes with the law. It's also not uncommon to see older players, such as Sparkman and Thomas, playing in the Division II ranks because unlike under Division I rules -- which state players only have five years to play four seasons of football -- the clock is only ticking in Division II if players are in school full time.

"That means if you step away for a year or two for whatever reason -- because you're working, having family issues, whatever the case may be -- you can come back,'' said Marcus Clarke, Shaw's compliance director and interim athletic director. "You have 10 semesters, rather than five years."

Although Clarke would not comment on specific athletes, he said Asberry keeps school administrators informed on the circumstances of each player, and the administrators, in turn "take a long look, on a case-by-case basis, on what the athlete can bring to the school, and not just the football program."

'Big mistake'

Shaw's roster this season, however, does feature a number of former ACC athletes who have helped boost its record and its chance at a third consecutive CIAA title.

Sophomore defensive lineman Callahan Bright was a five-star recruit when he signed with Florida State in 2005, but he didn't meet eligibility requirements, never made it to Tallahassee, faced his own drug charges and ended up on the back of a trash truck in Philadelphia before he wound up with the Bears. Senior defensive back Ronald Wright and sophomore running back Timothy Sheppard formerly ran track at Florida State and N.C. State, respectively.

And then there are Sparkman and Thomas, sophomore starters under former coach John Bunting when police were called to Thomas' dorm room in October 2004 because of a "suspicious odor." Police found Sparkman, Thomas and wide receiver Adarius Bowman with bloodshot eyes, and they eventually also found a small bag of marijuana.

The three were suspended, and although the charges were eventually dismissed, they never returned to the program.

"We made a mistake,'' Thomas, now a senior, said, adding that, in retrospect, he was hanging out with the wrong people.

"A big mistake," added the 6-2, 220-pound Sparkman, now a junior, who said problems with a girlfriend compounded his troubles.

Bowman went on to play at Oklahoma State and the Canadian Football League.

Thomas went home to Winston-Salem, where he worked as a maintenance man at a hotel for a year and a half. In 2006, he played a year at Division I-AA Southern, but he couldn't keep his grades up, he said, and returned home, again.

Sparkman, meanwhile, tried to join his teammate in Baton Rouge, La., that season, but he never attended a class or played a down because, he said, he had academic troubles left over from UNC. So he remained in his Tennessee hometown, where he did everything from mixing concrete to construction work to help his parents support his seven siblings.

"I spent a lot of time shooting basketball,'' said Sparkman, who led the Tar Heels in tackles at the time of his suspension. "... I wanted to play football again, I just didn't know I'd get a chance."

Second chance

That opportunity came when David Geralds, Thomas' previous position coach at Southern and the Bears' current defensive line coach, contacted him about coming to Shaw -- and Thomas, in turn, contacted Sparkman, who remained a close friend since they met on a recruiting trip to Chapel Hill.

Bears coaches often call around to contacts "to find out if there's anyone who has stumbled across a streak of bad luck, or a bad decision at a time or two in their life ... and who might be interested in another chance,'' said Shaw defensive coordinator Kienus Boulware.

When they learned of Thomas and Sparkman, Boulware, a UNC alum, called Tommy Thigpen, who became an assistant coach in Chapel Hill the season after the duo was suspended.

"He said, 'If you get those guys, your program will go from good to great,' " Boulware said. "So it was a no-brainer for us."

Returning to the field, and to class, was a no-brainer for Thomas and Sparkman, as well, especially after watching many former UNC teammates go on to the pros.

"You see them on TV, and you realize that could have been you,'' Thomas said.

Knocking the rust off during the first few practices was tiring, but "to come to a school that's winning, and get another chance to get an education -- and to see if I've still got it on the field, what an opportunity,'' Thomas said. "And even if I have just a small chance of going to the next level, I couldn't pass it up. I can't quit."

The toughest part of being a college football player again, Sparkman said, "has been just getting adjusted to getting your brain back working as a student, instead of the real world, where you don't have any homework."

Goals ahead

On the field, though, it has been just like old times (albeit with fewer bells and whistles than when they played in Division I). Sparkman, who sprained his ankle last week but plans to play Saturday, ranks third in the CIAA in tackles, with 26 solo and 17 assists. Thomas has 15 solo tackles and nine assists.

"I tell him, just like when we were back in the ACC, I get him all those tackles by holding the guy up, and he just runs and gets him," Thomas said, laughing. "He slaps me on the back like, 'Thank you.' ... But who we really thank is Shaw University, for giving us another chance."

Both players said they have matured since they were suspended in 2004 and won't make the same mistakes again.

They are determined to get earn their degrees. They'd like to get a look or two from pro scouts. And they believe they can win the CIAA title -- which they say would help pay back their coaches for giving them another chance.

"I told Coach after the first couple of games, 'Thank you for giving me this chance to play football again,' " Sparkman said. "I'll never give up on him, I'll always give whatever I've got, to the last drop ... because I know how much I missed it."

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