18-year-old Ohio State safety Marcus Hooker charged with DUI
For Marcus Hooker, his college football career is on the rocks even before he’s played a down on the field.
Hooker was arrested in Neshanook Township, Pennsylvania, where police picked him up on suspicion of drunk driving.
Hooker was arrested and charged with DUI, purchase of alcohol by a minor, disregard of a traffic lane, careless driving, and failure to have rear lights.
While the results of (or refusal to take) a Breathalyzer were not released by police, Hooker was also charged with having a “high rate of alcohol” in his system, which is defined in Keystone State law as blowing between a 0.10 and 0.16.
Incoming Ohio State safety Marcus Hooker faces multiple charges, including DUI https://t.co/w2B5AHKk8T
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 28, 2018
And while a juvenile DUI is not the end of the world in Pennsylvania — penalties for a first offense include a 90-day license suspension and/or a $500 fine — this still casts into serious doubt Hooker’s character, which can be devastating to a player’s career prospects.
After all, nobody in the NFL wants to draft the next Johnny Manziel.
Hooker, the younger brother of former Buckeye and current Indianapolis Colts safety Malik Hooker, begins his college career at Ohio State this fall.
The traffic stop came on June 16, while the hearing is scheduled for July 5.
Hooker was a three-star prospect out of New Castle High School in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He was the 20th-ranked player in the state.
The Buckeyes beat out Pitt, Rutgers and West Virginia for Hooker’s services. As a regional-level prospect, Hooker did not draw significant interest outside of the immediate Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern recruiting zones.
Hooker has been quiet on social media; he has a pinned tweet from the day he committed to Ohio State but his Twitter timeline is otherwise nothing but auto-posts from a follower-count bot.
There was a brief spike for Hooker in the Rivals rankings where he cracked the Rivals 250, but he is much more broadly regarded as a fringe guy, nowhere near the talent level of his brother.
Hooker has strong competition for the starting spot as well.
Isaiah Pryor, a four-star commit out of Georgia, has his eyes on that safety spot as well, and unlike Hooker, Pryor doesn’t have a DUI to his name.
The whole thing is a distraction at a time when Ohio State just wants to get to the business of playing football. Rescinding Hooker’s scholarship seems unlikely, but at the same time he may see his role diminished on the team.
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