NEW YORK — Erik Ainge wanted one more chance at football. His body insisted it’s time to move on.
The former University of Tennessee quarterback and New York Jets backup told The Associated Press on Thursday night that his playing career is over because of injuries to his right foot and throwing shoulder.
“This isn’t the step I wanted, but it’s the hand I’m dealt,” Ainge said. “There’s nothing I’d love more than to come back to New Jersey when the lockout’s over and compete for a job and be around those guys and their families. I miss them as people, but it’s just not in the cards physically right now.”
The 25-year-old Ainge, nearly a year clean of drugs and alcohol, missed all last NFL season while recovering from many years of battling addictions. A return to football remained in the back of his mind as each month of sobriety passed. But, he had surgery to insert two screws in his foot in January to repair a stress fracture that plagued him for years, and he recently tweeted that he was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff.
“I don’t know exactly when it happened with my shoulder because I’ve been battling shoulder problems for a long time, but now that I’m not in NFL-playing shape — I’m in good shape, but not NFL shape — my shoulder started really telling me how bad it was,” Ainge said. “One of the things I’ve been working on in my recovery is acceptance, and to be honest, I need to accept that I want to be able to play baseball with my kids when I’m 35. I don’t want to be limping the rest of my life.
“As much as I love football, and I really love football, I don’t know if in the immediate future, I’m going to be able to do it with everything that’s wrong with my body. I just think it’s time.”
Ainge was a star for coach Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee and was drafted by New York in the fifth round in 2008. He had some terrific preseason performances with the Jets, but was buried on the depth chart behind Brett Favre and Kellen Clemens as a rookie, and then Mark Sanchez and Clemens in 2009. Ainge has not thrown a pass in a regular-season game.
Still listed on the Jets’ roster as being on the reserve-did not report list, Ainge couldn’t tell them of his decision personally because of the strict no-contact rules during the NFL lockout. Ainge hasn’t officially filed his retirement paperwork with the league, preventing the Jets from commenting.
“I don’t want to put the New York Jets at risk by calling their offices or one of their cell phones,” he said. “The rules are that we’re not supposed to be in contact with them, and as much as I hate for them to find out this way, I think it’s the honest and mature thing to do to make sure they know what I’m thinking and where I’m headed. It’s not fair to them to have them think that once the lockout’s over, I’m going to show up in training camp shape.”
Ainge said his decision has nothing to do with the fact the Jets currently have five quarterbacks on their roster — Sanchez, Mark Brunell, Kevin O’Connell, Drew Willy and Greg McElroy — or his focus on sobriety.
“You can’t play quarterback in the NFL if you can’t lift a 10-pound weight with your throwing shoulder,” Ainge said.
He detailed his years of drug abuse in a first-person account with ESPNNewYork.com in March, and discussed his rehabilitation process during a daylong interview in the Boston area. Those drug issues, he insists, also did not factor into why he needs to walk away.
“I’m not big-time enough to be coming off like, ’This is my retirement,’ because I think you’ve got to be a Pro Bowler to do that,” he said. “I was a third-string quarterback and that’s not something a third-string quarterback does. I’m not a Pro Bowler, but I just want to be honest with the organization and the fans out there.”
Ainge realizes some may have already previously closed the door on his NFL career before he did, but that doesn’t bother him.
“When it comes to sobriety, which is the most important thing in my life, I don’t have to come back and be a Pro Bowler to be a success story,” he said. “If I stay sober and I move on with my life and I’m successful, that’s the success story.”
Ainge isn’t sure what’s ahead for him in the immediate future, other than staying sober — he still attends meetings five or six times a week — and getting completely healthy. For now, he’ll walk away from football with no regrets.
“Being in the NFL was amazing, one of the best experiences of my life,” he said. “Playing for the Jets was so much fun, the coaches are amazing and the players, I made friendships that will last the rest of my life. Tennessee was probably the four best years of my life with all the people I met there and playing for Coach Fulmer. I’ve had a lot of fun playing football and was truly lucky to have the opportunity to do so.”
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Comments » 40
HtownVol writes:
Having gone through the addiction of the same level that Eric went through, I am amazed that he ever made it to the NFL. On the days when a addict does not have the drug of choice (especiallt pain killers) it is impossible to get out of the house.
It took me losing my marriage to realize that I was wasting my life and had to start over away from pills.
I hope Eric has the strength to never get back to that life.
I have so much respect for him for being able to step away from that way of life before it ended his.
As long as you stay strong Eric you will have a great life ahead.
GO VOLS!
eVOLved writes:
I wish him the best. Coach Fulmer did coach him up. Fulmer for AD!
orangeman1 writes:
I like Fulmer as much as anyone, but I am going to call you on this comment. This article was about Ainge and this comment is only going to start something. Sometimes its the Fulmer bashers that start it , but not this time.
Anyway, I feel bad for Ainge for what he's been through and hope he can keep things under control and be successful in whatever he chooses to do whether its being a good dad or husband or at his career. He is obviously a Vol for Life, and one heck of a football player.
orangeman1 writes:
Good for you and great comment
M_VOL writes:
Let me guess.....bones never lie.
BTW, good luck in the future, EA.
RashaadSalabeb writes:
Erik, You've already accomplished more in the football arena than most of us. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Stay straight, pray everyday, and enjoy life. You are a winner and good things will come your way. Never ever quit! Stay strong!
Go Vols!
kazoo writes:
Cutcliffe coached him up--Fulmer had nothing to do with it. Fulmer couldn't even coach up the OL his last several years--and that was supposed to be his speciality. Good grief.
volincolorado26 writes:
Your ignorant comment is laughable at best. Erik Ainge publicly came out and praised Fulmer as a coach. Fulmer has 152 more wins than you, not to mention 2 sec championships, and 1 national championship. So, you can just shut your ignorant pie hole. You don't know what you are talking about. Fulmer will go down as one of the best coaches in Tennessee football history and rightfully so. If not for the greedy boosters, he would still be coaching today.
How can you sit there and post stuff about Fulmer that he did not know what he was doing? Are you serious? Again, when you get a national title or 152 wins, then you have the right to question Fulmer. Until then, sit back, relax, and do his taxes, sell insurance, or whatever it is you do (obviously not working in sports).
djohnnyg writes:
"Fulmer didn't coach him up"? How the he$$ do you know?
Fulmer was a class act and even the players who knew him and worked their butt for him still praise him even today. You think they'd do that if Fulmer had nothing to do with their success? I'll take the word of players who were there and knew the man personally over anonymous posters on a blog commentary.
Willis writes:
71 DAYS TILL FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!!!!!!!
TommyJack writes:
That Walt. Still silly after all these years.
volaholic45 writes:
Ainge was always quick to see that a play was over and make it official with a pass into the ground - sometimes too quick.
This decision is in keeping with Erik's MO. Kind of the polar opposite of Brett Favre - who erred on the other side.
Pansy or wise, it's his decide.
orangecountyvols writes:
Vols,
Another teeny bopper kid running his mouth.
tmartin writes:
EA, Let me jog your memory about your shoulder injury. It was injured in the notre dame game your freshmen year right before halftime. Some moron decided it was a good idea to try a hail mary from your own 15 yard line with 3 secs left in first half and you took a nasty hit. I would guess that is when the pain killer pills started too.
That same play led to rick clausen giving up his rightful seat on the bench and finishing out the season. Which in turn led to another moronic idea that there was a QB competition between you and clausen the next year. FYI, the whole 2005 season was wasted because the players and coaching staff were divided on who the QB should be. If they had said it was Ainge job as they should have, then none of that mess would have ever started including the LSU game. We all know how good he was the other 3 years; only a fool would think clausen could even get in same locker room with ainge
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
My battle has been with drinking, but I can understand everything you said. People who don't understand addiction are quick to bash folks who suffer. It's tough...It's really tough. I hope Eric can keep it between the lines and live a good life.
NeylandWest writes:
Addictions of all kinds affect so many of us - directly and indirectly. Thanks for the post and I appreciate your ability to stand up and represent.
Like you, I wish only the best for Ainge.
OwensboroVol writes:
Good luck Erik in everything you do. If you didn't graduate before, get your fanny back to Knoxville and enjoy life as a college student and GET THAT DEGREE. It is something no one, on the face of this earth, can take away from you. If you already have your degree rejoice in the fact that you have a marketable degree from one of the best schools in the country. The main thing? Erik enjoy life,be happy, and know that there is a higher power who will be there for you if you ask. If you do this the drug problem will never bother you again. I was in awe of you during your career. I seen your legs take a hit at South Carolina which would have broke a lesser man in half. I know you suffered in pain for the Orange. Be a Vol for life. Its a wonderful club to belong to.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
How cute....
volman2008 writes:
all fulmer has is a big ole knife,that he pulled out of JOHN MAJIORS back.
us43137415#376444 writes:
I am shocked.
I am shocked that nobody on this thread is preaching to hire Erik for a coaching position at Tennessee.
Even though there is not an opening in football right now, it's amazing that all of the posters giving away free jobs in the baseball forum for assistant coach, are not trying to steer Erik to that one. So what if it's baseball.. right now they're trying to steer Chris Burke to the job who has absolutely no coaching experience.
Who says unemployment is high?
Just talk to those dudes. They've got jobs to burn over there.
JSamson7 writes:
Is this the Rich I know??
JSamson7 writes:
Let me guess, a bone lies in you... Get off WD's back since your "significant other" that's attending Pridefest this weekend just got off yours!
TNVOLNTX writes:
I loved Fulmer and wish him well, but based on his record against Florida, Alabama, LSU, and against top 25 competition his last few years, it was clearly time for him to go. Top programs were going one direction and we were going the other. And NO, I've never coached a college game but lets say you went to a surgeon to repair your right knee and instead he operated on your left knee, surely you would be bright enough to go out on a limb and suggest that the
doc screwed up...right? Why? Because you've done multiple surgeries? Of course not...it's common sense. Some things don't require experience to recognize...simply observation and a wee bit of objectivty...something most Fulmer apologists lack. As far as Fulmer's players loving him...of course they do...they should. That proves nothing, except that his players loved him. That could be said of most players of their coaches regardless of how successful they were.
Rich_Is_Re-born writes:
It's Rich, but not the same guy you "knew". That life is behind me and I'm on a new journey. Hope all is well J! Good to see you bro.
Ayres_Hall writes:
I wish for the day we can all move on as Erik has done. I'm talking about Coach Fulmer and his loyal followers and the haters of Coach Fulmer. Let's move on...
Pompey writes:
....good post,thanks.....
Pompey writes:
....one of the things most wrong with UT athletics department is cronyism.....
Ibleedorangeforlife writes:
Who told you that you could get out of the corner ? Go back and leave this to us big boys ! Run away troll .
leedsvol2007 writes:
You arguments regarding Fulmer a valid however we will never know if the steps he was taking to right the ship would have succeeded.
A few omissions:
1) He had recruited Taj Boyd and revamped the offense to adopt to the spread which fans had been clamoring for. It was not successful but might have been the next year with proper personnel.
2)He would have likely salvaged some the players that left under Kiffin and the program would have had greater stability.
3) He had as good or better a class of recruits lined up as Kiffin ended up with so he would have had a chance to add to what he had.
But the fact is that Dooley is the coach and with the firing of Fulmer and Kiffin doing a touch and go the program has a long way to go to becoming a conference and national contender again.
Tom Osborne, Bear Bryant, and Vince Dooley all went through the types of slumps Fulmer was in and went on to renewed success.
Others never rallied.
We cannot know what category he would have fit in.
And the transition is as painful as I thought it would be.
GoVols!
oskie_score writes:
Addict, family, friends, employer, peers, etc.,...addiction is everyone's concern and problem.
Congratulations, Erik! Nearly one yr sober---continue to have the strength to maintain your sobriety.
Good luck with whatever new endeavor you choose.
Godspeed, Erik.
TNVOLNTX writes:
I don't disagree with you at all. While personally i felt it was time for a change, I respect Fulmer's contributions enough to where an extra year wouldn't have upset me greatly. As you stated, we will never know. Keep the faith brother. We are only two years removed and while it has certainly been a painful transition, I believe that is more a product of who we turned too, not who we turned from. I think we are in good hands now. Just one man's opinion.
Go Vols
Go4Two writes:
And who did coach cut work for...
TNVOLNTX writes:
Great post! Ditto!
hueypilot writes:
I never thought EA was the same after the Notre Dame hit. To blame someone for calling a Hail Mary instead of taking a knee is right on the money, as all hindsight is........20/20. David Cutcliffe and Fulmer made a lot of good calls in their day, this one got the qb hurt which could have happened on the practice field on Tuesday.
As for putting Clausen in, and the controversy, let's face it, EA would, on occasion throw the ball to the wrong colored jersey. He continued to do that all the way to his last game in the SEC Championship against LSU in the fourth quarter with two back breaking int's.
One struggles to try and assess what affect being a practicing addict had on his ability to play qb in the SEC, and against defenses as tough as LSU's. I'm amazed he did as well as he did.
volcraze writes:
Thank you for straightening things out for kazoo the numb nut. I really cant take the negative comments about Fulmer.
BigBadVol writes:
Very nice post!VFL
murrayvol writes:
Keep up Walt.
Fulmer knows he's not in the mix. You should know this as well.
murrayvol writes:
Good luck Erik. It's a long hard road.
shipperman#280095 writes:
Mentioning Fulmer in the same sentence with Tom Osborne, Vince Dooley, and the Bear is laughable at best. He was NOWHERE the coach either of those were. And he was keeping the same old ways as other teams were changing, and his record of .381 against the top 25 reflected that
HtownVol writes:
Eric deserves all the respect. He came out with his struggle to the NY Media while being in the NFL.
I am not doing anything by saying what I did behind a screen name. However, I do not shy away from my mistake. I am up front with everyone in my life about the mistake I made.
The only person who does not know that I have become a better person and I hurt every day from the life I brought her into is my ex wife. She made a decision to leave me and it took so much courage for her to do that. She did what she had to do and while it broke my heart it is what had to be done for her and myself to get our life back. She now lives in Knoxville and recently graduated from South College but I can never call or talk to her again because I know it is better for her that she never hears from me again.
It took me losing the best girl I ever knew to stop my addiction to pain killers as it looks like it took Eric losing football to leave his addiction. While we both lost the thing that meant everything to us we will both be better as men for having the strength to give it up.
I hope that we all have a great respect for Eric after knowing what he went through. His game was very good so I see nothing that we can question about Eric. He is now a great football player as well as a great man.
Stay strong Eric.
GO VOLS!
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