I want to commend Michigan State University for giving a young man a second chance.

New head football coach John L. Smith opened up spring practices March 22 with 17 starters off a 4-8 team, but welcomed back with open arms senior quarterback Jeff Smoker.

Smoker started off the 2002 season as a darkhorse candidate for the Heisman Trophy and started the first seven games before being suspended for the final five games for violating team rules. Ten days later, his family announced he was seeking treatment for abuse of an unspecified substance.

After his parents press conference, rumors and jokes about Smoker ran wild around campus including the obvious jab that his last name somehow fit.

Smoker decided to stay in school and focus on getting his life back in order which included drug treatment and total focus on academics.

However, in early January, Smoker was told that he would be given a chance to be reinstated on the football team for his final season.

After hearing the news, Smoker has spent this winter attending classes, studying Smith’s new spread offense and working out intensely with strength coaches.

The fact of the matter is Michigan State is doing a good thing here by giving a college senior the opportunity to make up for an embarrassing situation for on many levels for many people. Most people aren’t that fortunate.

Fact: Jeff Smoker is a 21-year-old kid who made a mistake. Those of you who are perfect, please step forward.

Fiction: Jeff Smoker is a bad person. “The kid has a good heart,” Smith said. “If you have a bad heart, we’re not going to waste our time.”

Fact: Jeff Smoker is trying to put his life back together into the routine that he was accustomed to before his substance abuse problem. That routine included playing football.

“This has been a great day and the happiest that I have felt in a long, long time,” Smoker said after his first practice since last October.

I don’t like to make bold predictions about what somebody’s next move will be in this situation because I’m usually disappointed.

I believe Smoker will be fine because he has all the good things going for him. A supportive family, a university willing to back him up (that’s rare) and a team that wants him back in the fold.

It’s interesting though. I found this story hidden as the fifth story under ESPN College Football. Smoker’s demise was front page news, but his relative recovery was swept under the rug.

America loves to put people on pedestals and then knock them back down to Earth. This is why I hope that on Aug. 30 versus Western Michigan, Jeff Smoker walks into Spartan Stadium as the starting quarterback.

You see, the only difference between Smoker and a person like myself is – if I make a mistake, I don’t get to rectify it in front of 70,000 people who were ready to kick me out of town.