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Randy Gregory: 'I blame myself' for failed NFL combine drug test
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000481581/article/randy-gregory-i-blame-myself-for-failed-nfl-combine-drug-test
Gregory said he first smoked marijuana after graduating from Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Ind., and before enrolling at Arizona Western Community College in 2011. He had failed to qualify academically at Purdue, which represented a considerable disappointment to him, and Gregory said he turned to marijuana to cope with the anxiety.
He sat out the 2012 season with a broken leg but was still pursued by major colleges. In 2013 he transferred to Nebraska, where he officially tested positive for marijuana twice, in January 2014 and April 2014. (Gregory said Nebraska officials told him he would be kicked off the team if he were to fail a third test.)
Gregory said he has not smoked marijuana since December, but because his THC levels were so elevated, the drug remained in his system at the combine. Thus, the positive test.
Asked if anyone at Nebraska bears any responsibility for his situation, Gregory said no. "Their job isn't to focus on (whether) these kids are smoking. Their job is to coach us. We should be able to take it upon ourselves and to have enough character to not do it. At the time, I did not. I really didn't. ...
"At the end of the day, it was my fault. I was being selfish. I was being stubborn. I felt like I could do things my way and it would work. And it didn't work."
Last month at the combine, Gregory said he spent time with 29 teams in formal and informal interviews. In all 29 sessions, he said, his marijuana use at Nebraska was discussed; if the team didn't bring up the subject,
Gregory said he did.
Gregory said he has taken regular drug tests, administered by the new support team around him -- including agent Deryk Gilmore of Priority Sports -- and that his levels continue to decline. (A second source, who was informed of the test results, confirmed that information.)
"I want people to understand I'm not some dumb jock pothead. I'm not," he added. "I'm intelligent. I love the people who help me, I love my family, I love my support group. I love football. I love winning. And I don't want to be labeled as some bust that couldn't make it because he smoked. And I won't be labeled as that."
Gregory has been training both his body and mind for the road ahead. A stomach ailment caused his weight to drop to 235 pounds before the combine; since then, he's added eight pounds. He said he ran the 40-yard dash in
4.53 seconds during his training session Wednesday morning at Goldin Athletics Training Association in the Atlanta area. (That time, of course, is unofficial. At the combine, he ran it in 4.64.)
Gregory calls playing professional football "a dream." But before he even enters the NFL, his career may be at a crossroads.
"(Marijuana) could end my career," he said. "This incident right now is a step toward ending my career. The last thing I want to do is fail another drug test and be out of the league.
"I want it on the record. I want people to understand I know I messed up. I'm owning up to it. I realize it. But at the same time, I'm taking the right steps to get better and to fix it."