Ogletree trying to move forward at NFL combine

By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alec Ogletree passes the eye test for an NFL linebacker. All he has to do now is prove he's worth the risk.
Ogletree has had his share of problems since arriving at Georgia, a list that includes a four-game suspension to start last season for an undisclosed violation of team rules and last weekend's DUI arrest. When he showed up to take reporters' questions Saturday, the fourth day of the league's annual scouting combine, the first five questions were about his past mistakes and whether it will affect his draft stock. "I don't really know what it's going to do, but like I said, I feel bad about it and I'm really sorry about it," Ogletree said. "I just have to move forward and take what I get." Ogletree isn't the only one facing these sorts of questions. Two other prominent former SEC players -- receiver Da'Rick Rogers and cornerback Tyrann Mathieu -- have acknowledged they tested positive for drugs in college. Tennessee and LSU, respectively, kicked Rogers and Mathieu off their teams. Then there's the strange saga of Armonty Bryant, a defensive lineman from East Central University, a Division II school in Oklahoma, who will spend this weekend explaining his arrest on a felony charge of marijuana distribution in a school zone. He said an officer spotted him selling marijuana to a friend in the back lot of the school dorms. Bryant was called out of practice in October, was subsequently arrested and wound up getting a five-year deferred sentence and two years of supervised probation. "I told them (scouts) that it was stupid, it was a stupid mistake," Bryant said. "I was in college and I wasn't looking toward my future. I tell them I was young, and it was a dumb thing." Those sorts of youthful indiscretions can become key factors in where places wind up on a team's draft board -- or whether their names are completely removed. In all four cases, it could make an impact. But Ogletree, a former standout at Newnan High, is the only one who was listed as first-round pick. He seems to have the most to lose. "Just by having a good interview," he said when asked how he plans to convince NFL teams he's changed. "Just being a good person and letting them get to know me and who I really am and now just what they hear about me and stuff."

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