Ike Whitaker's Revival: From A Bag of Alcohol to NFL Draft Hopes

Brandon Crawford's NFL dreams are inspirational because he's taken the long road to this point. But for sheer degree of difficulty, former Virginia Tech wideout Ike Whitaker has Crawford licked.Whitaker was a celebrated high school recruit who never panned out in Blacksburg, his alcohol abuse so racking that he already saw one shot of redemption go down the drain. And according to what he told Beamerball, Whitaker was ready to end it all when he went to see a Virginia Tech coach last fall.I remember that I was ready to end my life. I was a burden to myself and everyone around me. I just felt dark inside. I knew I had to stop drinking, but I couldn’t. So, I decided to just end it. That’s how tough this addiction is. That’s how depressed and sick the alcohol can make you.I wanted to go and see Coach (John) Ballein one last time because he had been good to me through my toughest times. He never beat around the bush, he was honest with me and hard on me, but...