Georgia linebacker Alec Ogletree is an early round draft prospect that has been linked as a possible player that the Pittsburgh Steelers might consider drafting in the upcoming 2013 NFL draft. On Saturday, however, it was reported by Pro Football Talk that Ogletree had been arrested last weekend in Arizona on a DUI charge, according to his agent Pat Dye Jr. and now you have to wonder if the Steelers, and several other teams for that matter, will remove him from their draft board, if they hadn\’t already.
“Last weekend, my client Alec Ogletree was pulled over for speeding and a lane violation in Arizona,” Dye told PFT. “After the officers smelled alcohol, they conducted tests and also cited him for DUI. Although Alec regrets the incident terribly, he is thankful that there was no accident and that no one was hurt. Because this matter is still pending, we cannot comment further publicly at this time.”
The Saturday news is not the first character red flag for Ogletree, who was first arrested at Georgia as a freshman on a theft charge for taking a motorcycle helmet that belonged to a Georgia track athlete. Ogletree was also suspended by the Bulldogs for four games just last year after a popping a positive drug test during the spring.
The Steelers are coming off a season that included rookie nose tackle Alameda Ta\’amu, their fourth-round draft pick, being arrested after an early-morning crash in October in which police say he drove drunk, crashed into several vehicles and attempted to flee. Ta\’amu was suspended by the team for two weeks without pay. He would later be released and signed to the practice squad until ultimately being signed back to the Steelers 53 man roster during the final week of the season.
If that wasn\’t enough, rookie running back Chris Rainey, the Steelers fifth round draft pick last April, was waived after the season had ended after he was charged with simple battery stemming from an incident with his girlfriend down in Florida. Although the charges on Rainey were ultimately lowered, the Steelers stood by their decision to waive the Florida product likely because of his past legal problems.
Rookie tackle Mike Adams, the Steelers second-round draft pick last April out of Ohio State, was originally off the teams\’ draft board following him testing positive at last year\’s NFL combine for marijuana. Adams, however, was able to make a pre draft visit to Pittsburgh and convinced the Steelers to put him back on their draft board after several stipulations were completed prior to the draft. Adams has yet to back-slide.
“He sought us out,” Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said, following the selection of Adams. “He requested a face-to-face with me, Art Rooney and Mike Tomlin, and we presented it to him: These are the stipulations that you have to accomplish for consideration for us to draft you, which the young man did. He met our criteria, met our stipulations.”
While Adams is far from being considered a character red flag success story just one year now into his career, you would have to think that Ogletree is a risk not worthy of the Steelers taking no matter how well he does this upcoming week at the 2013 NFL combine.
