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Former USC football player Owen Hanson, once nicknamed the “Cocaine Quarterback” for his role as a transportation coordinator for a Mexican drug cartel, has credited President Donald Trump’s First Step Act with giving him a second chance after getting years out of his prison sentence.
“I remember when the counselor called me into his office,” Hanson recalled Saturday.
“He said, ‘Owen, you get three years off your sentence for going back to school and getting your degree.’ He said, ‘You have also gained two more years of the middle house.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, you have hope.’
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Former USC football player Owen Hanson talks to Lara Trump on the July 11 episode of “My View.” (My view with Lara Trump/Screengrab)
Speaking to Fox News’ Lara Trump, Hanson recounted his journey from playing football at USC and winning national championships to finding himself in debt to a Mexican drug cartel.
“They gave me an ultimatum. They said, ‘We will kill you or you will work for us and bring us back,’ and I became their transport coordinator, the ‘signaler’ of this car that I will not name, but I had to work for them, and it cost me 10 years of my life in prison,” he shared.
Hanson described the First Step Act as fundamentally changing the way incarcerated people like him viewed rehabilitation by rewarding those who pursue educational opportunities and other programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
The criminal justice reform measure, established in 2018, increased the opportunities for eligible inmates to reduce their sentences by participating in appropriate programs and productive activities.
Before the law was passed, Hanson said federal inmates expected to serve at least 85% of their sentences had little chance of reducing their time in prison. He said the prospect of getting an extra break through good behavior and education has given him and others a renewed sense of purpose.
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President Donald Trump during the GENIUS Act signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Friday, July 18, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Hanson eventually earned a master’s degree while incarcerated and credits the law with helping prepare him for life after prison, where he now speaks to student athletes about the dangers of drugs and crime.
“It’s a very humbling experience, and at first when the judge sentences you to almost twenty years in prison, and then they tell you it’s time for rehabilitation, you’re surprised, look in the mirror while you’re in your cell, maybe the judge will show you some mercy,” he said.
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“And I tell people [that] prison is the best thing that could have happened to me, [it] you saved my life. [I was] being able to be sane, get my master’s degree, go out and help others is like a huge change for me. “
