Former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux said Tuesday in an interview with Yahoo! Sports that he was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder before this past season.
Perrilloux also said he was prescribed medication for this disorder to control symptoms such as anxiety.
He said he experienced ear aches this past summer and after the team’s medical staff could not find what was wrong, he met with a psychiatrist who made the diagnosis.
“That’s what was wrong with me because I always used to pop my jaw and used to pick at my skin, bite my nails,” he said.
OCD is a psychological disorder. Symptoms may include obsessive thoughts and routines.
Perrilloux said in the interview that down time at LSU led “to a sense of restlessness.”
“That was the first time I knew I had Obsessive-Compulsive [Disorder],” Perrilloux said. “Because I was always so busy, I didn’t know I had it. They said that’s a way to hide it.”
LSU coach Les Miles dismissed Perrilloux from the team in early May because of a string of the off-the-field incidents, including a reported failed drug test and an alleged altercation in a Baton Rouge restaurant in which Perrilloux called a server “Osama.”
In the interview, Perrilloux’s mother, Bonnie Breaux, said her son tested positive for a banned drug during his freshman year.
She also said a recent drug test at LSU found “trace” amounts of a banned substance in Perrilloux’s system. Breaux said she did not know what the banned substance was.
Perrilloux neither confirmed nor denied that he failed a drug test.
“Is it true or is it not true?” Perrilloux said. “I don’t want to say no, and I don’t want to say yeah. I just want to say no comment and just move forward.”
The Reserve native transferred to Jacksonville State shortly after he was released. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
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