After an alcohol-related run-in with the law in the spring of 2011, Floyd was suspended from the Irish football team. His future as a student and an athlete at Notre Dame was largely in doubt. Although he had already declared that he would return for his senior season, it would have been understandable if he had entered the NFL’s supplemental draft to avoid a humbling path towards righting his wrongs. But Michael took that path.
He had let his teammates
down, and he realized that. He had a daunting task ahead of him to earn back
the trust of so many people in his life. But one day at a time, Michael did
that. He changed the friends he hung out with and he participated in alcohol
education classes. He moved back into
Dillon Hall, a dorm on Notre Dame’s campus. He spoke at the Play Like a
Champion Today® Leadership Conference and participated in the Athletic
Department’s Youth Sports ministry. He maintained his physical focus and by the
time his senior year began, Coach Brian Kelly and University officials
recognized that Michael had made positive changes in his life, and reinstated
him to the school and the team.
Floyd went on to break
every major receiving record in Notre Dame football history.
Thanks to football, and
the staff in the Notre Dame Athletic department, Floyd’s legacy at Notre Dame will
be for his prowess on the gridiron, instead of the potential he let slip away.
Floyd’s story is a tale of how sports can be a means of transformation and of
reconciliation. Being a part of a team, no doubt, gave Michael the support and
accountability he needed in what was certainly a rough period in his life. And
the discipline of football provided the focus needed to make a change in his
behavior.
Frequently in our
society, we take away our youth’s right to participate in sport as a punishment
for bad behavior. Sometimes the behavior is chronic, and rewards (like playing
on a team) should be taken away, but too often we fail to recognize the
positive role that sport can play in changing a young person’s behavior. The
structure, discipline and humility gained from sport are unique in the way they
mature young people, and removing them from a sport environment may only make
social behaviors worse.
After seeing the
humbling events in Floyd’s life, we can now respect him for not only his
dominance at his position, but his commitment to personal betterment and his
respect for his team and school. It was not an easy path, and his journey is
not complete, but just as we’ve watched on the field, Michael is not afraid to
take the tough routes.
