Michael Vick is only 31 but he’s already had a heck of a life.

He helped lead his former team, the Atlanta Falcons, to the playoffs twice with show-stopping on-field performances. Then, in August 2007, he plead guilty to dogfighting and spent the next 544 days locked down in prison. He won his freedom card in August 2009, rejoined Nike and signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, a team he tells GQ magazine, "I didn't want to come to.”

He’s since changed his mind.

When asked about dogfighting today in the September issue of GQ, the QB says, "It's almost as if everyone wanted to hate me. But what have I done to anybody? It was something that happened, and it was people trying to make some money." Yet, he recognizes, “It's not fair to the animal. I know what to do now.”

On probation from pets until July 2012, Vick confesses, “I always had a dog growing up. It was almost equivalent to the prison sentence, having something taken away from me for three years … I miss my companions."

If all goes well, he'll be "walking the dogs" in less than a year.

(Photo: GQ Magazine, September 2011)