Former TCU Football Player Talks From Prison About Drugs At School
FANNIN COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - When Lonta Hobbs ran out of Clarksville High School onto the big-time college football stage at TCU, he rewrote the record books. In just 8 games as a freshman he scored 13 touchdowns and ran for more than 1,000 yards.
That was 10 years ago. Today Hobbs can run nowhere. He is in the Choice Moore Transfer Facility, a Texas prison in Fannin County. He is serving a five year sentence for selling cocaine.
"That was just a mistake I made," he said in an interview at the prison this week. "It wasn't something I was doing, something I'd done. I regret it to this day. It changed my life."
Hobbs agreed to speak to CBS11 after hearing about the drug operation at TCU. He said the news shocked him. Inmates in the dorm have been asking him about it. Hobbs played at TCU through the 2006 season. Drugs were not unheard of on campus he said, or among his teammates. "We had several players off our team kicked off because of that," he said. "Pretty good, I mean real good players."
TCU could not confirm that football players were removed for violating drug rules. In an email a spokesman said disciplinary action is part of a student's record and would not be shared with anyone other than the student in violation of the policy.
Hobbs said drug use was never something athletic staff tolerated or appeared to know about until players were caught. He said when it was discovered, the school dealt with it swiftly. "There was consequences on everything that you done there. It doesn't matter who you were, how good you were, how bad we needed you, he always had someone to replace you." The coaching staff often offered to help students with rehabilitation Hobbs said, staying in touch with them even if they left school.
Hobbs said he was introduced to marijuana in high school. He said he never used or sold drugs while he was a student. After college he played semi-pro football, and was doing some coaching. He said the decision to sell cocaine was for money. He served less than three months in prison.
Last year though, he was in a car with two people who were arrested. It violated his probation and he ended up back in prison last month. With good behavior he could be released again in August. He says he intends to move back to the Metroplex, find a job, and start life over.
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