Column: Stoner depicts bright side of college football

In a sport that has been muddied by scandals, allegations and wrongdoing of all varieties, the good and virtuous are, more often than not, overshadowed.

It’s an unfortunate aspect in the game of college football, but it’s the dark reality that has encompassed one of the world’s most popular and celebrated sports that has ever existed.

A recent disturbing spike of seedy activity in college football began with “tattoo-gate” at Ohio State.

Former Buckeyes Head Coach Jim Tressel was forced to resign after Sports Illustrated revealed it had credible information that a small group of his players had given autographed memorabilia in exchange for free tattoos.

The trip down scandal lane made its way to Miami, where the football program was revealed to have turned a blind eye when booster Nevin Shapiro provided players and recruits with cash, cars, prostitutes and the like.

The next stop was Penn State, where former Nittany Lions Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky was the lead antagonist in a gut-wrenching child sexual abuse scandal that has rocked State College, Pa., to its core.

After that was North Carolina, where the Tar Heels football program has become embroiled in an academic fraud case that has only just begun.

Where has all the positivity in college football gone?

It hasn’t gone anywhere at all, actually. Plenty of light emanates from our university’s
football program, which has successfully avoided the deathly grip of scandal in an era of college football where that task has become increasingly difficult.

IU Coach Kevin Wilson’s ability to maintain a clean program is due in large part to feel-good stories, such as Nick Stoner’s.

The sophomore wide receiver from Greenwood, Ind., is a singular ray of light breaking through the darkness clouding college football. Stoner, who arrived at Indiana as a cornerback, is a shining example of all that is good and right about college football.

Hailing from a town 45 miles north of Bloomington, Stoner has become a hero to the citizens of Greenwood.

“I’m really blessed,” Stoner said. “I go home to Greenwood, and people know who I am because I’m playing for the Hoosiers. I’m extremely blessed to have that privilege.”

Stoner’s perspective on his position as a Big Ten football player is a thoroughly refreshing one given all of the self-absorbed behavior occurring at college football’s highest levels on a daily basis.

What many of college football’s high-profile players so often forget is that they are role models to the fans who watch them play week in and week out. Stoner hasn’t forgotten that and relishes being a role model.

“People come talk to me all the time,” Stoner said. “I’ve had adults message me on Facebook and kids message me on Facebook. People ask for my number. I’m totally glad to help. I’ve been blessed with these talents, and I want to help anybody that I can.”

Stoner doesn’t pick and choose when to be a role model, either.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 173-pound receiver successfully juggles schoolwork, his social life and two sports, as he participates in track and field as a sprinter for IU Coach Ron Helmer’s squad in the spring.

All the while, Stoner avoids falling into lingering temptation many college football players are faced with on a daily basis.

Stoner resembles the selflessness that is so rare in college sports, a trait too often ignored by the media at large.

Stoner’s story is one of many throughout the country that would be a welcome change from the negativity swirling around his sport.

It’s up to the people covering football to allow stories such as this one to see the light of day. Maybe one day it could overshadow scandals and negative press.

One day.