ESPN College Football

Another day, another twist in the Maurice Clarett saga.

Even as Clarett's legal team prepares for its upcoming meeting with NFL attorneys to discuss the league's early-entry rule, family friend and adviser Jim Brown said Monday the suspended star running back still is considering a return to Ohio State.

Brown said Clarett's mother, Michelle, met with Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger late last week to discuss the player's future at the school. Ohio State suspended Clarett for the 2003 season for violating NCAA rules, though Geiger has said the running back could return to the program next season if a variety of conditions are satisfied.

At times, the relationship between Geiger and the Clarett camp has been adversarial, even contentious. Brown, who initially had counseled Clarett to remain at Ohio State, recently referred to Geiger as "a slave master," but said progress was made in the most recent meeting between the player's mother and the Ohio State AD.

"She had a different kind of meeting with Geiger, where they communicated on a respectful level, a human level," Brown said. "This was the first meeting where [the Claretts] felt like they were being considered as decent human beings."

According to Brown, Michelle Clarett continues to consider all possibilities for her son: the NFL, Ohio State, or a transfer to a Division I-AA program.

"Deep down inside, her the hope was [Maurice] would be able to play for Ohio State," Brown said. "That option is still open in her mind.

"The feeling I have from the family is that all options are open."

According to those who have seen the letter sent recently to the league and the NFL Players Association by Clarett family lawyer Alan Milstein, though, it is clear that the Ohio State sophomore is seeking entry into the 2004 draft "without litigation." If necessary, Milstein says in the letter, Clarett would challenge the early-entry provision in court and argue that the NFL's rule violates anti-trust laws.

Brown, who spoke to Michelle Clarett earlier Monday, said Milstein did indeed send letters to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw last week. But Brown said it was his understanding, after speaking with Clarett's mother, that no formal request has been made for early-entry waiver.

"They requested a meeting to explore all the possibilities with the league," said Brown, who indicated that the meeting could take place as early as Friday.

A league official declined to comment on the specifics of the letter. "We're not trying to raise the rhetoric," said the NFL official, "and neither are they."

Tagliabue, however, said Sunday that Milstein's letter did, in fact, seek Clarett's entry into next year's draft.

NFL rules require a player to be three years removed from high school before entering the draft. Unless an exception is made -- or the early-entry rule is challenged and overturned in court -- Clarett wouldn't be eligible for the draft until 2005.