Ohio St. players from ‘Tattoogate’ scandal seek to have records reinstated

Five former Ohio State football players who were involved in a scandal in 2010 over the sale of their memorabilia for cash and tattoos are asking for their records to be reinstated by the NCAA.

The group, which includes Mike Adams, Daniel “Boom” Herron, DeVier Posey, Terrelle Pryor and Solomon Thomas, released a statement on Tuesday, less than two weeks from the date college athletes first became permitted by the association to receive compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses.

Last year, several of the players told The Columbus Dispatch that they supported allowing college athletes to be paid for endorsements and saw themselves at Ohio State as exploited athletes off whom others profited.

Pryor, the team’s former star quarterback, initially posted the statement on his Twitter account before it was retweeted by others.

“Now that fundamental right has been granted to a new generation of athletes,” the statement read. “Now that they finally have the freedom to share in some of the millions of dollars in revenue they generate for their coaches, their institutions, their conferences, and the NCAA as a whole, we would like to see our hard won accomplishments reinstated.

“Although this could never undo what we and our families endured for breaking rules that shouldn’t have existed in the first place, we believe reinstating and acknowledging the accomplishments of ourselves and our teammates would be a huge step in the right direction.”