Todd Marinovich Attempting Comeback with WDFL at Age 48

Former Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich will compete for a starting role with the SoCal Coyotes of the World Developmental Football League as part of a comeback effort.

The 48-year-old NFL bust, who dealt with a variety of off-field problems during and after his pro career, is set to challenge Jacob Russell, 25, for the No. 1 QB spot when practice starts Aug. 10 in Indio, California, per Shad Powers of the Desert Sun (h/t ESPN.com).

Marinovich grew up in California and went through a rigorous training regimen under the guidance of his father, Marv Marinovich, a strength and conditioning coach in the NFL. Their relationship was later examined in The Marinovich Project, an ESPN documentary.

The younger Marinovich started for two years at USC before the Raiders selected him with the 24th overall pick in the 1991 draft. He never panned out in the NFL, though. A combination of on-field struggles and substance-abuse problems brought a premature end to his time at the sport's highest level.

The quarterback later made stops with the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions as well as the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.

Powers noted Marinovich said he's now sober and committed to living a clean life after multiple setbacks in the past.

"When I made several attempts at recovery, I said 'I'm going to go get treatment, and then I'm going to go back to my life,' and that never worked," he said. "Now my recovery is my life. I've meshed the two, so there's no separation, and really what I've found to be driving the illness that I suffered from was separation. I was separated from the source (points up), I was separated from you, and I was separated from me. And that's no way to live."

And he wants football to once again become part of his everyday life, even though the WDFL is a long way from USC or the NFL.

"It's the greatest game on the planet, and I've been away from it for so long, and I can't think of anything more fun," Marinovich said. "Recovery has changed every aspect of my life and made it better, so why wouldn't that carry over to the football field?"

Beating out Russell—an athlete 23 years his junior who played both football and baseball in college and was the NAIA All-American and Mid-South Conference 2015 Offensive Player of the Year—would be an impressive feat, regardless of the on-field results that follow.