updated 6:08 p.m. ET April 30, 2006

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. - Marcus Vick was prepared for all the extra scrutiny, knowing it came with the territory after his college years were marred by roguish, out-of-control behavior. He was ready to fess up to his mistakes, show everyone he had changed.

Still, he couldn’t help but grimace at the inevitable whispers, the hushed comparisons to other Guys Gone Wild.

Teams stayed away from Michael Vick’s little brother in the NFL draft. The whispers called him another Maurice Clarett or Lawrence Phillips waiting to happen.

“That kind of hurts me,” Marcus Vick said. “Maurice and Lawrence were definitely guys who had a bad past. They’re not even in the league anymore. But I’m a hard worker. I’m going to keep on fighting through my ups and downs. That’s the difference between me and them.”

Vick was one of the most intriguing players in this weekend’s draft, a talented quarterback with famous bloodlines who managed to get into all sorts of trouble during his stormy career at Virginia Tech. But he wasn't drafted.

Reckless driving. Marijuana possession. Serving alcohol to underage girls. Speeding. Driving with a suspended license. Allegations that he pulled a gun on three people in a McDonald’s parking lot.

On the field, Vick reacted with an obscene gesture at West Virginia when the home fans taunted him. Then, after being tackled in the Gator Bowl, he stomped on the left calf of Louisville defensive star Elvis Dumervil.

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“Just because he’s my brother, that doesn’t give him the right to step on another player’s leg during a game. It doesn’t give him the right to get into some of the other situations he’s gotten himself into,” said Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons’ Pro Bowl quarterback.

“Marcus was very immature. He thought a lot of things were going to be given to him just because he was my little brother. He had to learn the hard way.”

The younger Vick’s college career ended a year early — after he had already missed an entire season for disciplinary reasons. With basically no other options, he entered the NFL draft knowing he wasn’t exactly a hot commodity.

Vick took part in the scouting combine at Indianapolis, facing hard questions about his character. But no one invited him to a personal workout or interview. A few teams called up, looking for a number where he can be reached during the two-day draft, but plenty of players get that tantalizing request and never hear back.

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“The trend in the NFL is away from bad-character guys,” said Mike Mayock, a draft analyst for the NFL Network. “The teams that have been winning a lot of games, like Pittsburgh, New England, Philadelphia, Carolina, are typically good-character teams. Teams are shying away from those other type of guys.”

Especially when they see how a team can get burned picking someone with a questionable background. Just ask the Rams, who used a first-round pick on Phillips and then let him go when trouble found him again. Or the Broncos, who inexplicably drafted Clarett in the third round — and cut him before he ever took a real snap. He was last seen in court, facing robbery charges.

But when no one called, he must turn to free agency.

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