All-Met Pleads Guilty in Robbery

All-Met linebacker Pat Lazear yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, a misdemeanor, in connection with the heist of a Smoothie King store in Bethesda and will be sentenced Dec. 15, but his future on the football field remains uncertain.

Lazear, who was considered one of the top high school linebacker prospects in the country going into this past season, had faced two felony charges -- armed robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery -- but those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. The plea bargain also limits Lazear's maximum prison sentence to 18 months; the felony charges carried maximum sentences of 20 years each.

Lazear's attorney, Paul F. Kemp, said yesterday that Lazear still plans to graduate from Wheaton High School after the fall semester but now may wait until the summer to enroll in college. Previously, Lazear had planned to enroll in college for the second semester and participate in spring football practice.

"He just wants to get this sentence behind him, and any obligations to the court, he wants to fulfill them before he moves onto the next step," Kemp said, adding that the Lazear family would not comment publicly.

In interviews with football recruiting Web sites, Lazear has maintained -- as recently as earlier this month, Kemp confirmed -- that he hoped to attend Ohio State. But an athletic department spokesman yesterday ruled out the possibility of Lazear playing for the Buckeyes.

Steve Snapp, an Ohio State associate athletic director, said the school had rescinded its scholarship offer and was no longer interested in Lazear, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound senior.

"Our position all along is we would not recruit a young man, or woman, who has been charged with a felony or convicted of one," Snapp said, adding it did not matter that the felony charges were dropped and Lazear pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

"I don't think there is any possibility at all of" a scholarship offer.

Lazear also recently told Rivals.com that Maryland and West Virginia were among the schools with which he had been in contact. West Virginia assistant coach Herb Hand confirmed the school continues to recruit Lazear and has made the player a scholarship offer, but a Maryland spokesman said in a statement that the school "is not recruiting Pat Lazear."

The NCAA does not prohibit colleges from offering scholarships to athletes who have had legal problems, leaving schools to make their own decisions. For instance, the University of Miami followed through in 2004 on its offer to linebacker Willie Williams after Williams was charged with misdemeanor battery and a felony charge of setting off fire extinguishers at a hotel during a recruiting visit to Florida. On the other hand, Florida State revoked a scholarship offer to basketball center Jon Kreft four days after he was arrested for drug possession last May.

One major college assistant coach said he thinks Lazear would be best served by spending a year at a prep school to rehabilitate his image.

"The way the climate is in college right now, it would be very hard for someone to justify [giving Lazear a scholarship] to their athletic director," the coach said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic and because the NCAA prohibits college coaches from speaking about potential recruits.