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Will Mahone has seen it all over the last four years. The former four-star recruit arrived at Notre Dame as a running back, battled different injuries over his first two seasons in South Bend and even switched positions to wide receiver, but on June 14, 2014, Mahone’s life would change.
The Youngstown native was arrested on five offenses at a party in his hometown while on break from Notre Dame. Mahone was then suspended from the Notre Dame Football program and eventually left the program on June 24th.
Fast forward to January 2016, Mahone has done a complete 180 in his life and is back in school, working towards his degree at Youngstown State.
“I am just eager to kind of finish up with school, but I am taking it one moment at time and enjoying being at school and having the opportunity to further my education,” Mahone told Irish Sports Daily. “I am seeing it more as an opportunity to do good in life and how it can help me with jobs. For my sake, I want to get my education.
“When I was at Notre Dame, I used to think just because I would graduate from Notre Dame, I could do anything I wanted. You have to know your craft even though you might have a degree in something.”
Mahone picked Youngstown State to further his studies, so he would remain close to the people who helped him get through the last year of his life, including his mother Celia.
“There are a lot of relationships I have built around here with good people and I want to stay close for the next couple months and maybe years,” said Mahone. “I am not sure how long.”
While he just started his classes this semester, Mahone may get another chance on the gridiron.
“I have talked to a couple coaches here and Coach (Ron) Stoops particularly, so we are in the process of working things out,” explained Mahone. “It’s actually a blessing, because Coach (Bo) Pelini wanted to wait until after National Signing Day to talk to me, which is nice. I am working and going to school and getting everything situated. It took some of the stress off of me worrying about too much stuff at one time. I will talk to him in February and I am just looking forward to him letting me be on the team. I will just take it from there.”
What did Mahone do for the past year-plus to change his life around? In November of 2014, Mahone enrolled in a local program called Teen Challenge, which is a discipleship program based off Bible-based curriculum where students live on site for a year. It is also dedicated to helping rebuild people who struggle with addiction and inspires self-discipline, responsible decision making, social and spiritual accountability, all things Mahone admits he needed.
“It was definitely a culture shock, but it was everything I absolutely needed,” stated Mahone. “I wasn’t going to change if I didn’t change everything. The people I was hanging out with and the things I was doing, I needed to have a drastic change, because that’s the person I am. Some people can be able to deal with the situation different when something like that happens. They get it right away, but for me, I was angry, bitter and wondering why it had to be me. Being in the Teen Challenge program for a year got me away from drugs and alcohol. It just really helped me get my mind clear and really focus on the problem at hand, which was myself and my habits.”
In Mahone’s program, it was all men in his group who lived together for the year-long program. Mahone benefited from the peer mentoring aspect of the program and was able to see first-hand results of embracing the opportunity he was given.
“I was surrounded by men who were going through similar and sometimes worse situations than myself,” Mahone explained. “It really helped and we helped each other for a whole year. Even the leadership at the place, most of them have gone through addiction and things like that. They have great stories, so we learned from these men. I was one of the younger ones there, so it was awesome to be able to take counseling and wise words from older men and men who were changing their lives for their families and communities.”
Joining the Teen Challenge was an easy decision for Mahone, but at first he was hesitant to join as you might expect. He still doesn’t know what drove him to enroll, but he is thankful he did.
“I wouldn’t say it was that difficult, because I had two choices,” he said. “I was either going to jail for a little bit. I don’t know for how long, but it was supposed to be six months because I had violated my probation. At the point in time before I went into Teen Challenge, in my mind my mom had told me to get out, so I had to get out of the house and I wasn’t living at home. I was really going to accept the fact I was going to do some time in jail and get out and everything would be over with. I don’t know what I would do. I would have probably just tried to become a thug or something like that. I am not sure what my plans were. I was just accepting the fact I was going to jail for a little bit.
“I don’t know what came over me, but I was at a friend’s house and my mom had given me the number for Teen Challenge about a week prior. I just called the place and they said it was a year program and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that.’ I still wanted to go to school and play football. I called my mom and said I was going to go check it out. That day was November 3rd, it was actually her birthday and we went into the place and sat down with some people. I was checked in that day and a couple days after, I realized I was going to be there for a whole year and what it had to offer. I really fell in love with the place.”
When an individual enters the program, all contact with their family and friends are essentially cut off. There is a specific list of items they are allowed to bring and it’s a nothing more, nothing less situation. The time Mahone was cut off from the outside world allowed him to focus on himself.
Will Mahone has seen it all over the last four years. The former four-star recruit arrived at Notre Dame as a running back, battled different injuries over his first two seasons in South Bend and even switched positions to wide receiver, but on June 14, 2014, Mahone’s life would change.
The Youngstown native was arrested on five offenses at a party in his hometown while on break from Notre Dame. Mahone was then suspended from the Notre Dame Football program and eventually left the program on June 24th.
Fast forward to January 2016, Mahone has done a complete 180 in his life and is back in school, working towards his degree at Youngstown State.
“I am just eager to kind of finish up with school, but I am taking it one moment at time and enjoying being at school and having the opportunity to further my education,” Mahone told Irish Sports Daily. “I am seeing it more as an opportunity to do good in life and how it can help me with jobs. For my sake, I want to get my education.
“When I was at Notre Dame, I used to think just because I would graduate from Notre Dame, I could do anything I wanted. You have to know your craft even though you might have a degree in something.”
Mahone picked Youngstown State to further his studies, so he would remain close to the people who helped him get through the last year of his life, including his mother Celia.
“There are a lot of relationships I have built around here with good people and I want to stay close for the next couple months and maybe years,” said Mahone. “I am not sure how long.”
While he just started his classes this semester, Mahone may get another chance on the gridiron.
“I have talked to a couple coaches here and Coach (Ron) Stoops particularly, so we are in the process of working things out,” explained Mahone. “It’s actually a blessing, because Coach (Bo) Pelini wanted to wait until after National Signing Day to talk to me, which is nice. I am working and going to school and getting everything situated. It took some of the stress off of me worrying about too much stuff at one time. I will talk to him in February and I am just looking forward to him letting me be on the team. I will just take it from there.”
What did Mahone do for the past year-plus to change his life around? In November of 2014, Mahone enrolled in a local program called Teen Challenge, which is a discipleship program based off Bible-based curriculum where students live on site for a year. It is also dedicated to helping rebuild people who struggle with addiction and inspires self-discipline, responsible decision making, social and spiritual accountability, all things Mahone admits he needed.
“It was definitely a culture shock, but it was everything I absolutely needed,” stated Mahone. “I wasn’t going to change if I didn’t change everything. The people I was hanging out with and the things I was doing, I needed to have a drastic change, because that’s the person I am. Some people can be able to deal with the situation different when something like that happens. They get it right away, but for me, I was angry, bitter and wondering why it had to be me. Being in the Teen Challenge program for a year got me away from drugs and alcohol. It just really helped me get my mind clear and really focus on the problem at hand, which was myself and my habits.”
In Mahone’s program, it was all men in his group who lived together for the year-long program. Mahone benefited from the peer mentoring aspect of the program and was able to see first-hand results of embracing the opportunity he was given.
“I was surrounded by men who were going through similar and sometimes worse situations than myself,” Mahone explained. “It really helped and we helped each other for a whole year. Even the leadership at the place, most of them have gone through addiction and things like that. They have great stories, so we learned from these men. I was one of the younger ones there, so it was awesome to be able to take counseling and wise words from older men and men who were changing their lives for their families and communities.”
Joining the Teen Challenge was an easy decision for Mahone, but at first he was hesitant to join as you might expect. He still doesn’t know what drove him to enroll, but he is thankful he did.
“I wouldn’t say it was that difficult, because I had two choices,” he said. “I was either going to jail for a little bit. I don’t know for how long, but it was supposed to be six months because I had violated my probation. At the point in time before I went into Teen Challenge, in my mind my mom had told me to get out, so I had to get out of the house and I wasn’t living at home. I was really going to accept the fact I was going to do some time in jail and get out and everything would be over with. I don’t know what I would do. I would have probably just tried to become a thug or something like that. I am not sure what my plans were. I was just accepting the fact I was going to jail for a little bit.
“I don’t know what came over me, but I was at a friend’s house and my mom had given me the number for Teen Challenge about a week prior. I just called the place and they said it was a year program and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that.’ I still wanted to go to school and play football. I called my mom and said I was going to go check it out. That day was November 3rd, it was actually her birthday and we went into the place and sat down with some people. I was checked in that day and a couple days after, I realized I was going to be there for a whole year and what it had to offer. I really fell in love with the place.”
When an individual enters the program, all contact with their family and friends are essentially cut off. There is a specific list of items they are allowed to bring and it’s a nothing more, nothing less situation. The time Mahone was cut off from the outside world allowed him to focus on himself.
