Yes, those who forget the past are damned to repeat it. But when it comes to the problems that got cornerback Tryann Mathieu kicked out of LSU, the best approach is to not dredge things up.
Mathieu isn’t happy that someone leaked that he has admitted failing at least 10 drug tests at LSU. But is anyone really shocked by that he failed 10 drug tests at LSU?
At most colleges, a highly-talented player has to try to get kicked out of school. At some schools, he has to try repeatedly.
Mathieu ultimately did enough to get kicked out of LSU. That implies a lot.
The best way to get an NFL team to believe that he has made a break from his past would be to put his past behind him, and to leave it there. Complaining about the disclosure by NFL teams of facts that resulted in his ejection from the school and defending LSU’s “treatment and recovery efforts” that ultimately failed will do nothing to persuade a team to take a chance on a player with more red flags than Kim Jong-un’s golf course.
Mathieu wants and needs a second chance. Mathieu needs to realize that, in order to get a second chance, he needs to own completely and thoroughly everything that put him in his current position. Failing to take the high road on this point could cause some teams to believe he truly hasn’t climbed very far up from the low one.