The Dream Chaser. Gaskins Tony A.

ready for my moment, and it was the next man's opportunity. I still ended up getting back in the game and finishing with 40 yards on eight carries, so 5 yards a carry wasn't too bad, but it would be my last opportunity as a starter. My coach moved on to the other athlete on the team because there were only two of us who ran at that level. The other guy was actually a really small receiver the coach turned into a running back. He was lightning fast and could hit open holes with a full head of steam and gain a lot of yards. That was good enough for the coach, so I was back to picking up garbage time in the fourth quarters.

      I started to break down mentally, and I guess I got what I'd asked for by my actions. I started becoming a cancer on the team. I started to do locker room politicking and carrying on. I was cutting corners and chasing the ladies. I was going downhill fast. On top of not being focused, more distractions started coming my way. One day as I was walking in the ice cold winter, I looked down and saw a little baggie. I picked it up; it was a $10 bag of weed. I didn't smoke at all and had no desire to. But I did know about weed because my cousins and some of my friends smoked it. I also had a lot of family and friends who sold weed. So I showed the baggie to one of my teammates who I knew smoked. He looked at it and asked me how much I wanted for it. Not having a clue what to sell it for, I told him he could just have it because it was my last one. I had now become a drug dealer. A very petty one, but still, I was a kingpin in my mind. Then I had to find a way to keep up this image because this cool guy on the team was impressed that I had been selling drugs under his nose even though he knew nothing about it. The word started to spread, and now I was back into the shine. I couldn't shine on the field, so at least I was shining off the field. It's crazy to me when I look back and see all the time I wasted running from greatness.