Three years ago, Jeff Smoker had a choice to make.
The scholarship offer from Penn State was on the table in front of him.

He was in the middle of a brilliant high-school career, one that would see him win 30 of the 34 games he started for Manheim Central H.S. in Lancaster. His senior season, he would throw for almost 2,500 yards and 26 touchdowns.

He had made good choices on the field, throwing just seven interceptions that year.

He had all the physical talents, of course, standing 6-foot-3, weighing close to 200 pounds and clocking in at 4.7 on the 40.

But the choices were what set him apart.

You should have seen him run that Manhiem Central offense. Smoker dropped back and whipped the ball all over the field. He threw to anybody who was eligible. He picked apart defenses, finding enough room for his receivers and putting it where it needed to be.

Damn, was he golden. And so was everything he touched.

So when the recruiting gurus started calling him "can't-miss," who was he to argue? And the college coaches coming all the way to his house, complementing his mother's cooking? All this must be true, then. If these guys are blessing it, then everything must be this easy.

You can't blame a kid for feeling that because even the most normal teenagers feel that they are invincible and the next big thing. Adding ESPN and Internet message boards to that is like adding a brick of C4 to a campfire.

The funny thing is, people worry most about college kids during their freshman year. It's all about the adjustment, they say. As long as he learns to live on his own, to manage his time, to set priorities and to do those grown up things, he'll be A-OK.

Smoker went through that, by all accounts, brilliantly. Played so well in fall practice that they didn't even red-shirt him. Forget the fact that the guy who had recruited him, Nick Saban, was at LSU now. Smoker had felt comfortable with Michigan State and wanted to show people that he could be successful there.

Penn State may have been the team everybody watched where he came from, but the Nittany Lions rushed him a bit. They offered two scholarships to three quarterbacks, the other two being Zac Wasserman and Zack Mills, and said that the first two to jump were going to wear the Blue and White.

Smoker didn't need that type of pressure and he balked. Besides, Penn State didn't throw the ball, ran a boring offense and had missed out on the rest of the great Pennsylvania quarterbacks. Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana -- all Pa. boys that never needed State College.

Smoker's journey at Michigan State could not have gone better in East Lansing for the first two years. He took over the team as a freshman and went through the slightest of growing pains. Last year, as a sophomore, he completed 63 percent of his passes on the way to throwing for 2,589 yards.

He threw 21 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.

His passing efficiency rating of 166.4 ranked as the third-highest in Big Ten history.

Coming into this season, the words of praise for Smoker could not have been any louder. He was a Heisman hopeful. An All-American Candidate. A good bet for the Davey O'Brien Award, which goes to the best quarterback in the country.

He had the best receiver in college football to throw to in Charles Rogers, and the Spartans were a favorite in the Big Ten race.

And, now, Smoker faces cameras and questions about substance abuse. His team is 4-7, the head coach is gone and he, presumably, is not worried about any of that.

"It obviously started with some bad decisions on my part," Smoker said at the Nov. 14 press conference, trying to trace how he came to be where he is. "I ask myself why every day."

Smoker is currently undergoing treatment for substance abuse. He hasn't said what substances. He has only told us that it was more than one and that he used it to numb his life.

Isn't it amazing that a life so promising, so glossed with gold, could go so wrong that it needs to be numbed?

More than anything, it speaks to the pressure a college athlete is under.

"It's a tough situation," said Mills, who took one of those two Penn State scholarships and has since blossomed. "It is easy to get involved with things like that, especially with the pressure put on college athletes. They're so bogged down and the stress can get to you. You need to look around at who you're associating with.

"It helps having people to talk to about stress and the daily pressures involved with your life."

The temptation is there for all of them. Rarely does one fall to it.

But it only takes one bad choice.

Smoker said his problems began earlier this fall, and he eventually went to then-head coach Bobby Williams, who suspended Smoker on Oct. 24.

"It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life," he said of coming forward. "It was something in my life that I lost control of. I asked for help and I talked to Coach Williams about it and he responded quickly."

Williams was fired 11 days after finding Smoker help. Someday, in hindsight, Williams will probably see that period in a good light if Smoker can continue his rehab.

That, of course, will be all about choices, some of them that are not Smoker's to make.

"I realize everyone has an opinion," Smoker said. "Some people don't think others deserve a second chance, but I believe that they do. If not, I'll make the most of it, but I'm going to do whatever it takes to get a second chance."

There has been little word out of Michigan State about the future of Jeff Smoker.

About his own future, Smoker, at age 21, says this: "This has been like a turning point in my life. I'm going to take this situation that has happened and learn from it. I'm going to move on. I'm going to put this behind me.

"I'm not proud of the decisions I've made in the past, but I am going to hold my head high."