I was browsing through ESPN.com a few weeks back when the small headline caught my eye: "Michigan State QB suspended indefinitely."

Couldn't be, I thought to myself. Gotta be someone else. Couldn't be Jeff Smoker.

So I opened the link.

It was.

The Spartans' third-year starter had been suspended by then-head coach Bobby Williams for undisclosed reasons. I rubbed my eyes -- it was 5 in the morning, after all -- and looked again.

Yup.

Immediately my brain started to rapidly sort through all of the possibilities. Academic troubles?

Nah, they would've disclosed that. Curfew violation? Suspension is a little steep for that, but it could've been.

Substance abuse?

No, not Jeff Smoker.

If you lived in Lancaster County for any part of the past six years, and knew anything about sports, you knew the name Jeff Smoker, and you knew it well. The best quarterback ever to play at Manheim Central, the county's best team.

The county's best high-school football player ever. The player by which all others have been and will be measured.

When it came time for Smoker to pick a school four years ago and Paterno and Penn State already had their two quarterbacks, Smoker went to Michigan State.

So Lancastrians, who are big Paterno fans, too, traded in their blue and white for green and white without hesitation.

Smoker was to Lancaster what Cal Ripken was to Baltimore, what Joe Paterno is to Happy Valley.

He literally made more appearances in the local papers than the President.

And he wasn't just a star athlete, he was an approachable one.

He came back to the area for summer camps, signed autographs, stayed in touch with old friends and teammates.

When he spoke to the media, he was polite, forthright and honest.

And this was going to be Jeff's season.

The Spartans were supposed to challenge for the Big Ten title, and they were supposed to do it on the strength of Smoker and wide receiver Charles Rogers, who were touted as the best pass-catch duo in the country by most preseason prognosticators.

The words "All-America" and "Heisman Trophy" started to be mentioned in sentences about Smoker.

There was even talk of him leaving school a year early for the NFL.

But instead, the Spartans stumbled to a 3-4 start, including an embarrassing home loss to unranked California and humbling defeats at the hands of Big Ten rivals Iowa and Minnesota.

Then, on Oct. 24, seemingly out of nowhere, the bomb dropped.

Speculation ran rampant. Football fans all over the country waited to find out more, but none with the desperate anxiety of those in Manheim.

This was the player on which so many hopes had been posted, the one so many youngsters emulated. Jeff Smoker just couldn't let his fans down. Could he?

Just days after his suspension, Smoker admitted he had a substance abuse problem and was undergoing treatment.

And on Nov. 14, he held a press conference, where he apologized to his team, his family, and his fans.

He admitted that "it wasn't just one substance" and that asking Williams for help was the hardest thing he's ever had to do.

A man should not be judged by his actions alone, but on his accountability for those actions as well, and Smoker, though he had little choice, did the right thing by coming forward and admitting he had a problem.

His future in East Lansing is uncertain. Interim head coach Morris Watts most likely won't be back next season, Smoker's final year of eligibility.

Michigan State's new coach will have to decide where or even if Manheim's son fits into the puzzle.

Will we see Smoker on the football field again?

Most likely -- if not for Michigan State, for a professional team. He still has all the tools.

And he still has the hopes of a small town pinned on him.

"I'm going to move on. I'm going to put this behind me," Smoker said at the press conference. "I'm not proud of the decisions I've made in the past, but I am going to hold my head high."

It's going to be harder for the fans back in Manheim to do the same.