Indiana’s McPherson Out to Make Up for Mistakes
Matthew Pickut
Tuesday January 27, 2004
New Indiana Firebird, and Arena Football League rookie, Adrian McPherson made mistakes that were a little more public than mine, but he’s hoping to “break up” with his past and start again in Indianapolis.
McPherson left Florida State University amid allegations of felony check forgery and gambling after appearing in nine games, throwing 12 touchdowns and completing 80 of 155 passes for 1,017 yards, while throwing only one interception. Ultimately McPherson pled “no contest” to the charges against him and was sentenced to community service and probation. (A “no contest” plea is an admission to the facts against a person in criminal court that allows that person to still contest damages in civil court. In terms of sentencing, it is treated as a guilty plea by the judge.)
The questions about McPherson, whose physical skills are obvious, will linger until he can prove that he’s changed.
“I feel like a year ago or two years ago I was always in the limelight, and I had all these people who wanted to attach themselves to me,” McPherson told me after last Friday’s practice. “I never wanted people to say that I thought I was better than them so I pretty much hung around people so that I wouldn’t seem better than them. Now I know that you really don’t have any one but your family, and I’m a lot more mature from it. I don’t want to say I’m glad it happened, because it’s nothing that you’d want to go through. But at the same time it’s made me a better person, and I feel like I have my priorities straight now.”
As much as talent has played a large part in why McPherson is in Indiana, his relationship with his parents made a big difference to the Firebirds.
“I researched that whole thing,” said head coach Steve DeBerg. “I know Adrian, and he’s a good person. He got himself in a bad situation, but there a lot of people who make bad decisions when they’re learning to grow up and be an adult. I believe he deserves a second chance. I know his parents. He comes from an outstanding family, and he’s an outstanding kid. I don’t anticipate any problems, and I haven’t had any problems at all. He’s done exactly what I’ve expected him to do, and I’m real proud of how he’s handled himself.”
For his part McPherson credits his parents, Floyd and Henrietta McPherson, with helping him maintain his focus even through his legal woes.
“When it first happened I was real down on myself,” the rookie remembers. “I pretty much stopped working out and stopped throwing. I was reading the papers and it seemed like I would never play again. My parents were there right by my side and told me to become closer to the Lord and everything would work out fine. So I feel like if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in now. So right now I’m doing everything for my parents. They’ve done so much for me my whole life, I feel like I owe it to them to make the best of the situation.”
McPherson’s college journey took him to Tennessee State where DeBerg first contacted him about playing for the Firebirds.
“Coach DeBerg got in touch with me when I was at Tennessee State,” recalls McPherson. “He came down and worked me out, and said that he wanted to help me be part of the team.”
The new start appealed to McPherson from a personal and sports perspective.
“You’re always going to have people who are going to judge you, so I’m not here to prove a point,” McPherson continued. “I’m here to learn from a great guy and a great quarterback who’s been where I’m trying to go. I feel like it’s a great opportunity for me. At Tennessee State I really didn’t feel that the competition level was there and that I had a coach that I could learn from. I’m a great believer [that] either you get better or you don’t, and I felt like if I came here I could learn a lot from Coach DeBerg about football. I’m just here to soak up everything I can.
“I think it’s a great system. When I was at Florida State it wasn’t really a pro system. They tried to teach you ways to read coverages, and you pretty much went out there and tried to be the [best] quarterback you could be. Here, it’s more hands on. If you make a bad throw, Coach DeBerg will tell you why you made a bad throw, so I feel like it’s a great system.”
In spite of leaving Florida State, McPherson holds no grudges against his old university.
“I feel like they had to do what was best for their program, and that’s just something you go through,” said McPherson. “It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t be there this year playing, but I understand there are people at higher levels who have to make a decision. I still talk to the players. I still talk to some of the coaches because Florida State is my love. I have real good friends there, and I had real good coaches.”
McPherson knows that he will need to change a lot of minds in order to be accepted.
“When you read the papers, I think people get the idea that I’m a bad person, and I’m not,” McPherson admitted. “And it’s a sad situation because I can’t meet everyone who feels that way. In one sense I know people look at it like that, but my main objective right now is to show people I’m not that person they read about in the paper.”
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
