Former Ohio State University football player Ray Small dreamed of a career in the pros but was an amateur when it came to drug dealing. He was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for his involvement in what a Franklin County prosecutor called an "amateurish" drug-trafficking operation.

Former Ohio State University football player Ray Small dreamed of a career in the pros but was an amateur when it came to drug dealing.

He was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for his involvement in what a Franklin County prosecutor called an �amateurish� drug-trafficking operation.

�These guys were in over their heads,� Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Gibson said of Small and a co-defendant.

According to defense attorney Eric Brehm, Small told investigators that he was hoping to raise $10,000 through drug sales to open a children�s day-care center. �It was enormously bad decision-making on his part,� Brehm said.

When police arrested Small one year ago during a raid at his apartment on Ferris Road in North Linden, they found an unloaded handgun in his waistband and an unloaded rifle in a bedroom.

They also confiscated 407 oxycodone pills, 403 alprazolam pills (trade name Xanax) and more than 20 grams of heroin.

Small, 27, pleaded guilty in February to three counts of drug trafficking.

Last week, he was sentenced to three years in prison on an unrelated drug-possession count in Meigs County in southern Ohio. The sentences will run concurrently, Common Pleas Judge Pat Sheeran ruled.

Small will be eligible to apply for early release if he behaves in prison, but Sheeran and the Meigs County judge must both agree to such a release.

�If you show you can walk the walk, I�ll definitely take a look at it,� Sheeran said.

Small told the judge that he hopes to be given a second chance.

�I take full responsibility for my actions,� he said. �I�m very apologetic to the court and to my family.�

Small was a receiver for the Buckeyes from 2006 to 2009. He often was in coach Jim Tressel�s doghouse. He was suspended for two games for a violation of team rules. After being named captain for the 2009 Michigan game, his final home game, he was suspended for the Rose Bowl and did not make the trip to California.

Small spent time on several NFL practice squads after leaving Ohio State but never played in a professional game.

After the hearing, Kenneth Small said his son fell in with the wrong crowd after his playing days ended.

�These guys took advantage of him,� he said. �He should learn a lesson from this.�

Anthony F. Jones, 26, a resident of Detroit, also was arrested at the apartment and indicted on trafficking and possession charges. He fled before he was indicted and remains at large.

jfutty@dispatch.com