Tyrann Mathieu’s Decision to Forego 2012 Season

So much of what unfolds on a college football Saturday looks superhuman: rocket arm passes, leaps off the turf that look like momentary flight, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speed. Football at its highest level plays out like a live action comic book.

There are no true superpowers that play, though — humans he plays that bring fans out of their seats and onto their feet are performed. These are men, and just barely men at that. College athletes are in the very earliest stages of adulthood. It’s easy to forget that.

To watch Tyrann Mathieu roaming the field in 2011 was to witness the breathtaking. His ability to take a punt, read the coverage and run it back was electrifying. The six fumbles he forced were in part the result of rattling tackles, hits often laid on ball carriers larger than Mathieu. The power with which he delivered his shots was improbable given his 5-foot-9, 180-pound frame.

And he was doing it all at 19. Mathieu only turned 20 in May, an important point to remember as he headlines newspapers, TV programs and blogs nationwide. The latest edition in his trying summer is the decision to forego playing football in 2012, instead remaining at drug rehab in Houston. FOX 8 New Orleans broke the news late Thursday night.

Mathieu visited FCS McNeese State in Lake Charles, La., near his Big Easy home. Mathieu could have made a significant on-field impact with his superhuman plays at MSU. But if the human Mathieu was still plagued by the problems that forced him out of LSU, what happened on the field would be superfluous.

Or more superfluous than it already is.

Tyrann Mathieu is a 20-year-old with years ahead of him. Some can be spent playing football, though not past his mid-30s at best. That leaves decades beyond the gridiron. After the superpowers have worn off is a very human existence. Having the ability to meet that existence able to cope without a crippling drug addiction is paramount.

John Lucas is a mentor who walked in Mathieu’s shoes and can provide an example of how to win this battle. That’s a big step on his road to redemption.

Death Valley Shook captured a since-deleted tweet Mathieu issued last week when his dismissal was made public. In it, he says “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”

Any story of superhuman feats has themes of courage at its foundation. Hopefully for Mathieu, courage proves to be his most impacting.