OSU denies claim of racial slur
Transferred player’s father alleges a coach used the slur in 2017.
The father of former Ohio State receiver Trevon Grimes says former Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith used a racial slur during an altercation at practice in 2017, according to a report published this week by the digital television network Stadium.
That prompted a forceful response from Ohio State officials along with current and former players based on the implication the incident had been covered up.
“My first reaction was like everyone around here: Irate,” said head coach Urban Meyer, who was made aware of the allegation last week. “Our players were over-the-top irate. They came to see me I mean extremely upset that kind of accusation would be made about something that is absolutely not tolerated and quite honestly the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard in being involved in college athletics.”
Grimes, a 2017 top-100 recruit from Fort Lauder- dale St. Thomas Aquinas who transferred to Florida in January, refused to comment in the story.
Smith, who was fired in August after the existence of a domestic protection order obtained by his former wife against him was brought to light, said in the report, “I’ve never said that word in my entire life. I’ve never been in a fight with a player in my life. Never. That never happened.”
Eli Goins, a former Ohio State receiver, told Stadium he witnessed an incident between Smith and Grimes in practice but that he did not hear Smith use a racial slur.
Johnnie Dixon, a current senior captain at Ohio State who is also a receiver from Florida, wrote on Twitter he witnessed “the whole alter- cation and this didn’t happen,” adding, “You think a group of African-American young men will sit there and let something like this hap- pen? Say what you want but this isn’t true at all.”
Another captain and wide receiver, Parris Campbell, tweeted, “I was present during the entire alterca- tion and what’s said in this article never happened. I can guarantee it.”
According to the article, the incident between Smith and Trevon Grimes is what led him to transfer, contradicting the widely publicized reason: He needed to be closer to his mother, Leah, who had been diagnosed with cancer. That situation was a factor in Grimes’ being granted an NCAA waiver allowing him to play right away this fall rather than sit out a year.
Leah Grimes also declined to be interviewed for the story and apparently obtained legal representation as a result of contin- ued efforts by the reporter to reach her.
She also released a state- ment asking her health to be kept out of the story and indicating neither she nor Trevon have anything to do with his father, Lebron, who is the primary source for the story by Brett McMurphy, a former national reporter at ESPN and CBS Sports who now works for Stadium.
Ohio State President Michael Drake and athletic director Gene Smith issued strongly worded statements defending Meyer and condemning the report.
“The Ohio State University unequivocally and vehemently disputes the unfounded allegations by Brett McMurphy,” Drake said. “Any allegations of racism are outrageous and false. The university told McMurphy that we have found no evidence to support these allegations.”
Gene Smith (no relation to Zach Smith) called the accusations “unequivocally false.”
“Urban Meyer embraces diversity and would absolutely never support an environment of racism,” Smith said. “It simply isn’t tolerated here. And as an African-American, football player and collegiate administrator, I personally can say that our coaches, student-athletes and support staff know there is no place for any such behavior within our programs, at The Ohio State University or anywhere.”