Peeling back the layers: family life can be complex. So can football. But the clear vision of Michigan State's Charles Rogers makes success on and off the field simple for the nation's-best player

Sporting News, The, Sept 23, 2002 by Steve Greenberg

As they descend on East Lansing, scouts will learn Rogers' dedication to football is there. No matter whether they're able to view him in the context of great team success--or whether Rogers plays at MSU as a senior--they'll soon get to know the best college receiver in 2002. No one is faster. No one makes more big plays. No one has more to play for.

And no one is better at making adjustments. Four days after Charles Rogers went to dam, went to practice, missed his kids, mugged for a TSN photographer and then, at 8:30 p.m., inhaled dinner while inviting further comparisons to Moss in front of a scribbling reporter ... four days after all that, Benjamin Rogers died. Reached two days after his father's death, Ronnie said the family preferred to keep the details of Benjamin's passing private. "That's just the way we are," he explained, kindly.

Charles was back home in Saginaw, inside that house where he was supervised in the best of times and swathed in loving support when he needed it most, for two days. Then he went back to school, back to the football field, to take aim at Moss and Howard, a banner season for his team and, of course, his future. There's a picture to paint, and it's going to be pretty.

E-mail managing editor Steve Greenberg at sgreenberg@sportingnews.com.