Speaking of the great Chris McNeil, I just found this old article about his arrival at A&T:
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ANOTHER CHANCE AT REDEMPTION
N.C. A&T DEFENSIVE END CHRIS NCNEIL IS TRYING TO LEAVE HIS TROUBLED PAST BEHIND
BY CHARLIE ATKINSON Staff Writer
Sep 17, 1996 Updated Jan 25, 2015 The way Thomasville High School football coach Allen Brown sees it, Chris McNeil is almost out of chances.
``I'd say he's in the middle of chance No. 2,' Brown says. ``My sense of it is this is also chance No. Last.'McNeil, on the other hand, believes he doesn't need more chances - that he's finally turned his life around.
The 21-year-old from Thomasville suited up for North Carolina A&T Saturday in what was only his third game ever for the Aggies. Last year he was a part-time starter at N.C. State.
But during the off-season, he and two State teammates got into trouble with the law. It wasn't the first time.
McNeil says he's been in fights, stabbed people, shot at people, sold drugs, bought drugs and used drugs. He admits to once being a member of a Charlotte gang - the ``BDP' or ``Black Department of Protection' - and to being involved in a drug business. He's also been shot in the groin and charged as an accessory to murder. A .22-caliber bullet still is lodged in his pelvis.
According to court records, he was brought up on 22 criminal charges, 10 of them felonies. All before turning 18.
But McNeil seemingly defeated his demons after his junior year in high school when he moved from his home in Charlotte to Thomasville.
With the help of his parents and the legal system, he enrolled in a drug-treatment center. Then he was placed at the Mills Home Campus of the Baptist Children's Home near Thomasville. He lived there for almost two years, rooming with nine other teenagers trying to leave their pasts behind.
``He did a fine job for us,' says Brown, his high school coach. ``Once he got here he did very well.'
In fact, McNeil graduated in the top 10 percent of a senior class of 118 students. He also excelled on the football field, where he was a star linebacker on a 14-1 team. He played in the Shrine Bowl and was listed as the eighth-best prospect in the state by one recruiting publication.
State assistant Mike O'Cain, one year away from being named the Wolfpack head coach, convinced him to sign with the Wolfpack.
After a redshirt year, he became one of State's top defensive ends. Last year as a sophomore, he led the team in quarterback sacks and led all Wolfpack defensive ends in total tackles, though he started only three games.
But his journey to stardom and possibly the NFL seemed to end on Feb. 29, when he and teammates Steven McKnight and Brian Brooks took a joy ride in downtown Raleigh.
Police records say that plain-clothes officers saw the three smashing car windows outside of a movie theater. Apparently they were hoping to steal stereos. They fled the scene, but their car eventually was traced to Brooks' family.
``We left the State-Georgia Tech basketball game, and we were out riding around,' McNeil says. ``It wasn't a money thing. None of us were broke. It was more of a 'You try it to see if you can get away with it' thing. We did it, and we got caught.'
Brooks turned himself into the police later that night. McNeil and McKnight met with O'Cain the following morning. Soon afterward they turned themselves in. McNeil's bond was set at $5,000. He spent the night in jail.
O'Cain says he was stunned by the news.
``I was very surprised - more disappointed than anything,' O'Cain says. ``I had recruited Chris. I knew all about his past. I talked to everyone involved from judges to his probation officer. The judge he had dealt with used Chris as a model of a guy who had turned his life completely around. All he ever talked about was what he'd done and how he wanted to make his life better and get away from his past.
``I was disappointed in him, and I was disappointed for him. He had taken himself out of a negative situation and he had put himself in such a positive situation. So for him to revert back was hurtful. It hurt me particularly. You get to know these guys. They are much more than athletes and football players - particularly the ones you recruited. They become special to you. When one goes astray, it's almost like your child going astray.'
McNeil, Brooks and McKnight were charged with felony breaking-and-entering. McNeil was sentenced to two years' probation, ordered to pay restitution and required to perform community service.
O'Cain banished all three from the team.
``Any time you have a young man who goes directly against what you are trying to promote and do here at N.C. State - whether it was one you recruited or not - yes, you feel betrayed,' O'Cain says. ``He also let a lot of other people down - his teammates, a university that supported him and a tremendous amount of constituents who care about the university.'
McNeil's actions were particularly troubling to people like Brown, who had seen him change from a street punk to a young adult with considerable potential.
``When I first heard about it, my reaction was disappointment for him, disappointment for the football team and disappointment for Coach O'Cain, who went out on the limb for him,' Brown says.
It hurt McNeil, too. He had come so far since his troubled days in Charlotte, only to see that progress vanish in a night of immaturity.
``People don't look at you the same way anymore,' McNeil says. ``You're not Chris McNeil,
the guy who led the team in sacks and helped them to a bowl game. You're Chris McNeil, the convict. They forget all the great things you did for the program, like being involved in the ACC Outreach Program. None of that is ever brought up.'
Brooks decided to stay at State. McKnight transferred to UT-Chattanooga. McNeil felt he needed a change of scenery, too.
``I made my mind up in that jail cell that night that I was not coming back to North Carolina State,' McNeil says. ``I knew that I was unhappy. My teammates were unhappy. I felt like, if I put myself in a new environment and around new people, my attitude would change.'
He shopped around for a school willing to take a promising 6-foot-2, 231-pound defensive end with a past. He focused on Division I-AA schools, which now can accept transfers without requiring them to sit out a year.
He eventually found A&T, a school with a fatherly coach in Bill Hayes that already had several ex-Division I players on its football roster. He liked Hayes from the start.
``It wasn't so much what the players had to say, but rather it's little things like sitting down at the Burger King on East Market Street and asking the person there about their opinion of Coach Hayes,' McNeil says. ``The majority of the people had positive things to say about him. That's the biggest reason why I chose A&T rather than going to another school.
``When I met with him, I told him exactly what went on at N.C. State. He was honest with me. He didn't give me no BS.'
Hayes says he initially was reluctant to bring in a player with McNeil's background. But the more he got to know him, the more he felt McNeil deserved another chance.
``Chris is a very honest kid,' Hayes says. ``In May he came by and laid his cards on the table. He told me exactly where he was coming from. Allen Brown told me about what kind of kid he was.
``The way I look at it, let the first person who has never done anything wrong, never gotten in trouble, be the first to say something. Let the person who is without sin cast the first stone. Can anybody say they've never made a mistake? I don't think so.
``Personally, I'm real glad to have him here. He's been a real positive asset to our entire program. I'll take 'em like him anytime I can get one.'
McNeil's play has been exemplary. He and teammates Cedric White, Toran James and Brian Pittman have been defensive stalwarts on a 3-0 team. He leads the Aggies with five of their 13 sacks. His 11 tackles lead all A&T defensive ends. Earlier this week he was named honorable-mention Defensive Player of the Week in the MEAC.
``I'm happy here,' McNeil says. ``My mind is at peace. At a (Division I-A) school, there's always pressure to go to a bowl game. Here, everybody wants to win, but it's not like they're worried about what happens in January. There's not a lot of pressure. I'm relaxed.'
``I'm happy for him,' O'Cain says. ``I really don't think Chris is a bad person. For whatever reason, he got involved. I don't know why he did it - whether it was easy money or what. I don't think he knows why he did it. But I think he realizes he made a mistake. He's been given a chance to rectify things. I am happy for him because I hope he will turn his life around.'
Thus far McNeil has kept out of trouble off the field. He's one of the first to offer advice to the younger players. They, in turn, appear to respect him.
``The players really look up to him,' says White, A&T's all-conference defensive lineman. ``What happened to him off the field happened off the field. We consider him a team leader. Personally, I really look up to him. He gives me a lot of advice on things.'
McNeil prefers to look on his troubled youth as something he eventually outgrew. As for the incident in Raleigh, he likens it to a lapse in judgment, one he must strive to prevent from happening again.
``When I made the mistake that I made, it kinda reminded me of Chris Webber when he called that timeout without having a timeout,' McNeil says. ``One of the things he said was that humility has to come before honor. I've been humiliated. I've humiliated my family, myself and the fans at North Carolina State University by my actions. The only way I can make amends from that is by learning from that mistake.
``I don't want to say I had to go through it, but I'm grateful I went through it. It's helped me to grow up and realize this is the real world. It's time to be a real man.'
greensboro.com/another-chance-at-redemption-n-c-a-t-defensive-end-chris-ncneil-is-trying-to/article_070aff52-51d9-5fe8-a867-f822721c2796.html