Football and Painkillers: An Athlete’s Battle With Addiction

Football and Painkillers: An Athlete’s Battle With Addiction
Luke Wollet is a speaker and an addiction recovery advocate. Courtesy of Banyan Treatment Center
Andrew Thomas
Updated:

Luke Wollet was a football star at Kent State University, and had a potential future in the National Football League. However, he had a profound secret towards the end of his college career: He was battling a severe opioid addiction.

Wollet grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and is now 27 years old. Wollet’s life was all about sports from an early age, and in northeastern Ohio football was the sport to play. He started playing the game at age 6.