Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com since 2010. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.Darren Lewis, the Texas A&M star who broke Eric Dickerson's Southwest Conference rushing record before addiction derailed his football career and post-football life, died on Thursday night at age 55 from cancer.
But during the NFL draft process, Lewis said he was exposed to cocaine at parties and by prospective agents, and was assured he would test clean. Instead, he was the only player who tested positive for cocaine at the combine, and his stock plummeted to the sixth round, where he was drafted by the Chicago Bears, who claimed they did not know of his negative test, and sent to rehab.
In 2014, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison in for a string of armed robberies at hotels and convenience stores, including shooting a 7-11 cashier in the leg, which Lewis claimed was an accident.