Last Chance U's Isaiah Wright playing football again, starting new life chapter post-jail

ALCOA – A warm Saturday night had cooled into the evening for a couple hundred people at Goddard Field in early April.

Spectators watched a speedy first half of semi-pro football lose its pace. Then a new player wearing No. 0 and an Alcoa Alloys jersey reading “No Smoke” trotted out on the punt return team to inject life into the game.

He lined up at the 35-yard line early in the third quarter and grabbed the ball with a defender rumbling in and side-stepped him. He turned back and ran left, gaining speed with the end zone in sight. He ran untouched for 30 yards, then left his feet near the goal line and flipped through the air with a defender crashing into him. 

Isaiah Wright has made plays like this before. Thousands have seen it in person. Millions have seen it thanks to his starring role on two seasons of Netflix’s “Last Chance U.”

The athletic running back made a nearly identical play in the show’s first season, and that moment ran through his mind on a Tennessee high school field on that Saturday.

“It was the same side, and I am just running like it is the remix,” Wright said. “I am telling you, that was going through my head – the remix. So, I did it.”

'It was hell'

Wright is playing football for the first time in two years. He’s in a pay-to-play league, engaged and an expecting father now.

He was a college athlete then, landing at Division II West Georgia after two seasons at East Mississippi Community College.

He left school in the middle of spring midterms when his grandmother fell ill and had no one to take care of her. He returned home to Harriman, Tennessee, and was in serious legal trouble months later.

Wright was one of four people arrested in August and September 2017 in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Caleb Thomas Radford. Wright, Itiq Green, Keshawn Hopewell and Camion Patrick – Wright’s brother – initially were charged with criminal homicide following Radford’s death on July 25, 2017.

Radford was found bleeding at an intersection in Alcoa after a plan to purchase marijuana went wrong. He had been stabbed repeatedly.

Prosecutors alleged all four men knew of a plan to rob Radford. Patrick and Wright were not present when the killing occurred. Hopewell and Green got into a vehicle driven by Radford, leaving the brothers behind, Patrick's attorneys claimed.

The case against Patrick, who played at Lenoir City and Indiana, was dismissed due to a lack of evidence tying him to the crime. Green accepted a plea deal on March 29, pleading guilty to second-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. He will be sentenced June 5.

Hopewell is slated for trial May 13.

Wright was released in early August 2018 after pleading guilty to facilitation of aggravated robbery in exchange for having the criminal homicide charge dropped, according to a copy of the plea agreement. He received credit for time served and was sentenced for six years of supervised probation, according to court records.

He is back in Harriman, living with his grandmother again and his brother.

“I ain’t doing nothing but just chilling at the house and playing football – staying out of trouble,” Wright said.

Of all the requirements of his plea deal, staying out of trouble is the one Wright repeats three times.

“I’m not even going to sugarcoat it, it was hell,” Wright said of his 11 months of incarceration. “It was hell. Just got to have the faith in God and put Him first and let Him lead where my path is about to be.”

Backup dreams

Wright posted “FREEDOM” on Twitter at 2:21 a.m. Aug. 10 after his release from prison. Twenty-four minutes later, he posted a message directed at college football coaches to let them know his direct messages were open.

“Just looking for a 2nd chance to play the game I love,” Wright wrote. “Willing to do anything to get on the field and contribute.”

Wright, who came to fame at EMCC – which came to fame via Netflix – latched onto the Independent American Football League. He heard about the league, which has 40 teams across six states, and started playing for a team in Roane County.

He shifted to the Alcoa Alloys soon thanks to friends on the team and owner Craig Brown reaching out to him. The team is composed of former high school athletes from the area and some ex-college players ranging from ages 18 to 52.

Wright is different. He had scholarship offers from major Division I schools, including Auburn, while at EMCC.

Brown hopes the exposure leads Wright to a college scholarship to play a final year of eligibility. Wright had NFL dreams. Those linger somewhere still but are a backup plan to living a good life and having a family.

“You also have to have your backups,” Wright said. “I’m just working off my backups, to be honest. If I focus on my backups, it makes me proceed more on my dream.”

The flashes of speed and elusiveness that made him a coveted prospect remain. He’s about 20 pounds heavier than he was when he played at EMCC. He put on most of the weight at West Georgia, where he was tasked with bulking up.

He does “jail stuff” to stay in shape – mostly pushups and situps, taking advice he learned from his cellmate. He’s playing running back and wide receiver for the Alloys, while also returning punts after joining the team in the middle of the season.

What about Caleb Radford's family?

The Radford family had mixed responses to Wright’s inclusion on a team based in their community. It’s where Caleb Radford played football. The Maryville teen graduated from William Blount High. His family, including a young son, Kylon, is from the area.

Robyn Radford, Caleb's mother, heard that Wright was playing in Alcoa when a co-worker saw a post on Twitter announcing it. She called her husband, Lee, in tears and struggled to come to terms with Wright playing on the same field where her son once played.

She was angry. Not unforgiving. But hurt. Wright playing football again was one thing, but not where they raised Caleb. 

Lee Radford stressed that it does no one any good, including his family, to wish ill on Wright nor the second chance he has following his release. He said his son would forgive not only Wright but all involved in his murder.

"He would want forgiveness and second chances," Radford said. "None of us are perfect. It would be a slap in the face to not give Isaiah a chance to make right of this. The guy is out of jail. He is out of jail for a reason. He has been given a second chance. So give him a second chance. Don’t just tease him with it. ...

"That is not right. That is not forgiveness. That is not giving someone a second lease on life.”

Radford spoke at length about forgiveness, trusting the judicial system and his son. He doesn't think it fair to label Wright for one moment, just as he doesn't want his son judged solely by the one thing most people know about him. He called Caleb a "knuckleheaded teenager," but a good kid that "was making a mistake."

He refers to Wright's role in his son's death as a mistake as well, one he hopes — without knowing Wright has a child on the way — that Wright can turn into a positive lesson when he is a father.

"For me, I hope he does good," Radford said. "Maybe he can make a difference. Maybe he will keep some other parent from sitting at the cemetery every night."

Changing priorities 

Wright, as Radford noted, has a new story starting.

He is a long way from the spotlight chapter of "Last Chance U" now. He still likes to hear from the fans and remembers the hype of the show and his experience.

But it feels like a long time ago when he hops the high fence along the home sideline at Goddard Field as the final seconds ticked off the clock on April 6. His fiancee, Nora Loy, waited alongside the railing.

The pair are expecting a baby boy in July. He will be named Sergio.

“It may sound weird, but to be honest, I am just out here playing,” Wright said. “I have got a family that is ready to come. I’ve got a baby that is coming in like three months. I just got engaged on Valentine’s Day. It’s just one step at a time. Have God first and let God lead. That is just basically it.”

When it comes to football, he is just trying to have fun playing the game that put his name in the spotlight. He wants to be about the team and help others.

He talks about having greater maturity and increased humility, lessons stemming from the past few months of freedom and a second chance.

“I just stay me and stay to myself,” Wright said. “Don’t let nobody get me out of my strand and my path. Don’t let nobody clog up my path. Once my path is clean, it’s one step at a time. I will make it to where I can’t dream. The dream is to make it with a family big and all that.”

News Sentinel reporter Travis Dorman contributed to this report.