Some of Karen Wells' most cherished keepsakes are in her favorite room in the house Wendell Bryant bought for her in Florissant, Mo. When she's feeling lonely because her son is 1,600 miles away in Arizona, she can look at the awards, posters and framed photos from his outstanding career with the University of Wisconsin football program and feel instant comfort.

But Wells' most prized possession -- the greatest gift from her only child -- is stored safely in her purse. There, you'll find a coin Bryant delivered to Wells in June to commemorate his one-year anniversary of being sober.

It accompanies Wells everywhere she goes and serves as tangible evidence that Bryant, whose once-promising NFL career was ruined because of an addiction to drugs and alcohol, has taken a significant step on the road to turning his life around.

Wells got more proof a few weeks ago when she watched Bryant, in his second game as a defensive lineman for the Las Vegas Locomotives in the fledgling United Football League, sack Florida Tuskers quarterback Brooks Bollinger, his former UW teammate. Bryant's reaction was pretty low-key; he briefly raised his arms, then quickly lined up for the next play.

His mother, watching the game at home on television, wasn't nearly as reserved.

"That was the best thing ever," Wells said. "I called him and told him, 'I think you're OK now.' I worry every day that he might backslide. But that sack right there meant more to me than any sack he's ever had."

'I was hooked'

Bryant's journey to the addictions that made him a first-round bust and led to him tossing away millions of dollars is a long one.

His life changed as an 18-year-old during one of his official college visits -- he's not sure which campus he was visiting -- when he was offered alcohol and marijuana at a party. To that point in his life, Bryant had been a self-described wallflower who felt awkward in social situations because he had always been so much bigger than everybody around him. "I never felt comfortable in my own skin," he said.

Once Bryant got some beer and pot in his system, he became a different person.

"I was hooked," he said. "It allowed me to break out of my shell and be this fun-loving person that could dance around and be social. I could interact with everybody else. I didn't feel any confliction. I could just be myself -- or the person I perceived myself to be."

Bryant continued using after he arrived at UW, though it was hardly a staple in his life. It became one, however, following his junior season in 2000. Perhaps because he was having so much success on the field, Bryant didn't think his actions off the field were an issue.

"It's like, 'Why go down that path?' " said Bryant, who was a three-time, first-team All-Big Ten selection, two-time Big Ten Conference defensive lineman of the year and an All-American as a senior in 2001. "I had been steadily been increasing my use more and more over the years, and things had steadily been getting better (as a player). You almost correlate the two: 'Well, you know, I can drink and smoke and do other stuff more, (and) it's not having an effect on my game. Everything's going how it's supposed to.' That's what you think. That's what you tell yourself."

Bryant could use in college and get away with it. But it didn't work in the NFL, where the pressure mounted as Bryant realized all the players around him were just as good, if not better, than he was.

The smart thing to do for Bryant, the 12th overall selection by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2002 NFL draft, would have been to stop. But it wasn't that easy.

Highs and lows

Identifying rock bottom for Bryant isn't easy because of several low points.

The most obvious came in 2005, when Bryant was kicked out of the NFL after breaking the league's substance-abuse policy for the third time. Among the violations for Bryant, who started nine games in three seasons, was a 2004 arrest for drunken driving in Madison.

"You would think that going to the NFL would be the highlight or the best thing to ever happen to him," Wells said. "But despite all the hoopla and prestige, there was still something lacking. And there was still something wrong with him. It went past and beyond what the NFL could provide for him."

Getting booted from the NFL served as a wake-up call, but not a big enough one to stop Bryant from using. By that point, Ecstasy had joined beer and marijuana on the list of Bryant's vices.

A typical day for Bryant was getting stoned during the day and drinking heavily at night. He was a fixture on his couch at home in Phoenix, much to the chagrin of the woman who is now his fiancée and the mother of his child.

"He has what we call his 'man cave' upstairs, and he would just be there watching ESPN," said Andrea Bryant, who coincidentally has the same last name as Wendell. "I would come home and there would be people here, friends that would smoke with him. I'd come home and it'd be like, 'Can we just for once not have someone home when I get home?' "

Andrea Bryant gave birth to a girl, Devyn, in November 2007. A few months later, Bryant's grandfather, Norman Wells, passed away after a long battle with diabetes and heart-related issues.

Wendell Bryant cried during the birth of his daughter and the funeral for his grandfather, who had helped raise him. The two events got him started on the path to recovery.

"The one thing I always wanted was that cohesive family unit: mother, father, kid, and the house and the car and the dog and all of that," he said. "I looked and I realized that I still had a chance at that. With everything else that I had screwed up -- my career and blowing so much money -- I realized that I still have a chance for this."

It took about four more months, but Bryant finally checked himself into Chandler Valley Hope, a treatment center in the Phoenix area.

There was one more test. Shortly after leaving home to drive to the treatment center, Bryant got the urge to smoke one last joint. He pulled over, but the brand-new lighter he had just purchased wouldn't work.

He tossed out the joint and continued driving.

"I looked up to the air and said, 'I get it, I'm done. I realize what you're trying to tell me,' " Bryant said. "At that point, I realized it could only have been God talking to me. You buy a brand-new lighter and it doesn't work? Those are powers out of my comprehension."

Support group

Bryant had plenty of other inspiration in the form of the three ladies in his life: his daughter, fiancée and mother.

There were times when Bryant held Devyn in his arms, high as a kite on drugs. She was too young to know, but the older she got the more he feared there would come a day when she'd figure it out.

"I don't want her to ever see me high," Bryant said. "I don't want her to know that Daddy's in there getting high, or Daddy's in there drinking, or Daddy's in there doing stuff that he tells me to not do."

Andrea Bryant stuck with Wendell through some tough times. "Most people would have checked out a long time ago," he said. "But for some reason, she saw the good in me and stayed with me."

And Karen Wells remained in her son's corner no matter how ugly the situation got. It's a good thing she likes driving, because she put a lot of miles on her vehicle going between Missouri and Arizona.

"It's hard to see your child like that, and there's really nothing you can do but be the rock that you can be for him," she said. "I did a lot of praying."

'My hero'

Bryant's journey is far from finished.

He blew most of the $5.5 million signing bonus he got from the Cardinals, who sent a letter to Bryant saying they wanted half of the money back. Bryant replied with a letter to Arizona general manager Rod Graves saying he wanted to repay the money and provide any other services he could to make up for the time and energy they wasted on him.

Bryant, 29, has been reinstated to the NFL and tried out with a few teams in the offseason, but none offered him a contract. But he says he's happy in the UFL and could see himself playing with the Locomotives, who are 1-1 heading into their Friday rematch with Bollinger and the Tuskers in St. Petersburg, Fla., for years to come.

"He knew he was being a bum before," Andrea Bryant said. "Now, he's really excited. You could tell he has something to do, something to be accountable for. He's very, very happy. And so am I."

Bryant realizes the temptation to return to his vices may never go away. So far, he's resisted those urges. His mother is confident Bryant will continue to do so.

"He's my hero," Wells said. "For him to go through the deepest, darkest tunnel -- and it's ugly down there -- and to come out of it and be the person that he is now, I'm so proud of him."

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