Chris McNeil hasn’t tasted alcohol in almost a year. But there was a time when he would spend $30 at the bar on dollar night. On other nights, McNeil, a Mississippi State football player, would drink a fifth and a half of whiskey.
“I didn’t drink specifically every day, but when I drank, I mean, it was to the point of, you know, it was out there to the extreme,” said the blue-eyed offensive lineman from Petal.
McNeil, the son of a minister, said he had his first drink of alcohol when he was 15 or 16 years old.
He said he started drinking on the weekends during his freshman year of college. Eventually, it escalated into “almost an everyday thing.”
He said he did not have a physical dependency on alcohol but was a binge drinker. “When I would drink, it was like there wasn’t such a thing as one,” he said. “It was either 24 or nothing.”
McNeil knew he had a problem for a year or so before a car accident April 3 made him realize he had to quit. “I was getting signs,” he said.
His personality changed, he said, and he was moody when he drank. His grades had fallen, and his class attendance slacked off. He tried to quit, but when he started drinking again in moderation, his alcohol consumption built back up to the previous levels.
The clincher was the car accident. After the wreck, he was suspended from the team, and MSU head football coach Sylvester Croom directed him to counseling, McNeil said.
McNeil said support from loved ones, including his family and his then-girlfriend, now-fiancee Emily McCoy, helped him to overcome his alcoholism. “I had support from every angle,” he said.
McNeil described McCoy as the shoulder he leaned on during his recovery, but he was surprised she stuck with him. “The people you’re closest to are the people it rolls off on. It’s not the friends you go out with, they’re not the ones that end up having to pay for what you do,” McNeil said.
The ordeal brought him closer to both McCoy and to his parents. “It made my parents happy to know that I was finally growing up as a man and realizing what was really important in life,” he said.
Having religion to lean on and taking up exercising also helped him overcome his problem. “You have to find something else to focus your attention toward because you can’t just sit around and watch TV, or you’re just going to start getting the jitters and all,” he said.
He said people should not be afraid of asking friends for support. “If you truly tell somebody, ‘Look man, I’ve got a problem with this,’ If you’ve got true friends, they’re not going to sit there and mess with you about it. They’re going to understand, and they’re going to support you.”
Amy Edwards, who works at Campus Alcohol and Drug Education, said students with friends who have alcohol problems should not participate in their friends’ alcohol-related activities but should support their friend. She also said before confronting friends, students should be prepared with information and specific incidents in which alcohol caused problems.
“It’s very important not to shame them or to blame,” she added.
Students must realize their limits when dealing with friends who have alcohol problems, Edwards said. “When you have a friend that has a drinking problem, one of the main things you can do is realize that you can’t control what they’re doing,” she said.
McNeil also participated in outpatient counseling and received support from MSU’s Student Counseling Center. “Anybody that needs help, I would definitely recommend going to the counseling center cause those guys are not going to say anything. They’re not going to ridicule you or anything,” he said.
Some people with alcohol and other substance problems have abuse problems while others have dependency problems, said John Hawkins, a counselor at the Student Counseling Center.
He said those who abuse substances fail to fulfill obligations, place themselves in hazardous situations and have recurrent legal and social problems due to the substance.
Individuals with substance dependency develop a tolerance, suffer from withdrawal symptoms when the substance is not consumed, consume larger amounts over a longer period than intended, try to cut down but are unable and spend more time in activities necessary to obtain the substance, Hawkins said.
Edwards said 31 percent of college students met the criteria for alcohol abuse in 2002, and 6 percent met the criteria for alcohol dependency.
Hawkins said most of the students he’s seen have abuse problems, but that most dependencies start as abuse problems.
Hawkins sees more freshmen and sophomores for alcohol problems than he does juniors and seniors, he said. “Most students, by their junior and senior year, I’ve seen at MSU have cut back on their drinking,” he added.
Hawkins said students who think they have an alcohol problem or wish to speak with a counselor for any other reason can reach the Student Counseling Center at 325-2091 or at 103 Lee Hall. “It’s completely free and completely confidential,” he said.
“I personally think freedom is better than addiction,” he added.
Today, McNeil’s future looks bright. He and McCoy plan to marry in January. McNeil was one of five MSU football players to make the Dean’s List last semester. He plans on graduating in December and hopes to play in the NFL or go to graduate school.
McNeil said he once told himself that his alcohol problems did not affect his performance on the football field because he was still doing well in workouts, but he can tell a huge difference since quitting. “I guess what you put into your body is what you get out of it,” he said.
McNeil said his ordeal is nothing to be ashamed of: “I look at it as, you know, that I’m better now; I’m happy because I made a decision to do something different.”
He added, “What’d be a shame is if I didn’t do nothing about it. But I mean if I can proudly stand up and say, ‘Look, I’ve quit, and I had a problem and I’m an alcoholic,’ there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”