It has been a trying 2006 for UCLA’s place kicker Justin
Medlock.
After a drunken driving incident on Dec. 11, 2005, for which he
eventually pled guilty and was charged with three years of
probation, Medlock was suspended from UCLA’s Sun Bowl matchup
against Northwestern. Monday’s initial fall practice was his
first time in a full team practice since December, and Medlock
couldn’t have been happier to slip back into a uniform.
“It’s nice,” Medlock said. “It’s
just good to be able to go out there. You forget a lot of things
when you’re not out there.”
One thing Medlock would like to forget is the public backlash
from the drunken driving incident. When it was widely reported that
Medlock walked away from the scene, while UCLA golfer Hannah Jun
was injured inside the vehicle, Medlock was upset.
“The first few months were definitely difficult,” he
said. “A lot of people were saying things that I knew
(weren’t) true, but there was nothing I could do about
it.
“All the things published in the paper ““ they really
hurt.”
Medlock maintains that he walked away from the scene to get help
for the injured Jun, who has since fully recovered from her spinal
chord injuries.
As for the football field, Medlock had to sit and watch as his
teammates defeated Northwestern in the Sun Bowl. It was, according
to Medlock, a difficult experience, despite the win.
Since then, he has been working hard to return to his teammates.
After pleading guilty and receiving his sentence, Medlock was
reinstated by coach Karl Dorrell on April 11.
“Justin is a good young man who made a very serious
mistake,” Dorrell said at the time. “Now that the legal
proceedings have been finalized, I feel that missing the Sun Bowl
and being suspended for four months is sufficient
punishment.”
Medlock claims he was never worried about being reinstated, and
he had his teammates’ support.
“A lot of guys (embraced me),” Medlock said.
“Robert Chai, Derrick Williams, Tony Lee ““ a lot of
guys I had never even thought of.”
Over the summer, Medlock has worked to get his kicking game at
the quality it was before his suspension, but with the closing of
Spaulding Field for renovation, has had to travel south to find
suitable kicking accommodations.
“It’s been hard working on my kicking game (because
Spaulding is closed),” Medlock said. “I’ve been
going down to West L.A. College to work on my kicking. Over summer,
I tried to go two or three times a week.”
If Medlock is trying to win back redemption with hard work, he
has started off on the right foot.