By Rusty Miller
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Maurice Clarett has already lost his national championship ring.

"My mother took it from me," the Ohio State tailback said with a laugh. "She was mad at me. I was supposed to go home two weeks before that and I didn't go, so she started hollering at me. I gave her my ring and she shut up."

IF YOU GO

• What: Ohio State's Scarlet and Gray spring football game. • When: 1:37 p.m. Saturday. • Where: Ohio Stadium. • Tickets: $5. • Notable: 85,000 tickets have been printed and 50,000 had been sold by OSU's last count.

This has been a silent spring for Clarett in many ways. After rushing for 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns last season - both Ohio State freshman records - Clarett hasn't participated in the Buckeyes' contact drills during April workouts.

Clarett suffered a dislocated shoulder midway through last season that bothered him the rest of the season. He still hadn't recovered by the time he scored on a 5-yard run in the second overtime to give Ohio State a 31-24 victory over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 3.

Team doctors and head coach Jim Tressel determined that it would be better this spring if Clarett concentrated on strengthening the shoulder and eliminated the possibility of reinjuring it. He will not play in Ohio State's annual intrasquad scrimmage Saturday.

His inactivity will disappoint as many as 85,000 fans who are expected to file into Ohio Stadium to pay homage to the school's first national championship team since 1968.

A year after winning the starting tailback job in spring practices, Clarett spends a lot of time standing around. When he's not watching from the sidelines - wearing a blue mesh jersey that tells his teammates he cannot be hit - he is lifting weights, running and attending meetings.

There are signs that Clarett is restless. He showed up for one practice this spring wearing armbands on which he had printed the words, "I'm BORED!"

"It disappoints Maurice a little bit, and maybe irritates him a little bit," Tressel said. "I think he wants to get hit and tackled a little bit this spring."

Maybe so. Clarett revealed little about his feelings when he met with reporters.

His freshman season was marked by controversy. ESPN The Magazine quoted him as saying he was considering leaving school after his first year to turn pro. As hate mail from Buckeyes fans piled up, Clarett said the reporter set him up.

During bowl workouts in Tempe, Ariz., Clarett blasted Ohio State's administrators for not allowing him to fly back to his hometown of Warren, Ohio, for the funeral of a friend. Athletic director Andy Geiger said Clarett hadn't filed the necessary paperwork. Clarett countered that Ohio State officials were lying.

With the school's sports-information director standing a foot away from him on Tuesday, Clarett declined to discuss what he learned from the 2002 season, his Heisman Trophy candidacy or if his life has been changed by the national championship.

"I don't want to talk about last season," he said. "I'm on to a whole other season."

Clarett has been busy during the past few months.

He spent time at home - belatedly, according to his mother - and appeared with his teammates and coaches at an autograph-signing session at a downtown mall.

Clarett also hung out with his close friend LeBron James. James, a high school basketball star from Akron, is projected as a top NBA draft pick. Clarett attended the McDonald's All-American all-star game in Cleveland with James.

Wherever he goes, Clarett is in demand. Police were needed to keep fans at bay at the autograph session and the basketball game.

"You wish you could be to yourself," he said.

Then he added, "At least people are chasing after you, or they're interested in you. It'd be pretty sad if nobody ever talked about you and you wasn't nothing."