No. 3 Ohio State sits star Young
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 3 Ohio State announced Friday it will not play star defensive end Chase Young against Maryland this weekend amid concerns he violated NCAA rules by taking a loan last year from someone he describes as a “family friend.”
The surprising move was disclosed in the team’s status report and depth chart for Saturday’s game. Ohio State said only that Young was being held out because of a “possible NCAA issue from last year” the athletic department is “looking into.” The school did not elaborate or say how long he might be out.
Young, however, took to Twitter a short time later.
“I made a mistake last year by accepting a loan from a family friend I’ve known since the summer before my freshman year at OSU,” he wrote on his verified Twitter account Friday morning. “I repaid it in full last summer and I’m working with the University and NCAA to get back on the field as soon as possible.”
Tim Nevius, an attorney and former NCAA investigator, confirmed he is working with Young. He tweeted that Young “took a small mance two weeks ago against Wisconsin that thrust him into the Heisman Trophy race. He was a preseason Associated Press AllAmerican and is projected to be one of the first players taken in next year’s NFL draft.
The Buckeyes are 42point favorites against Maryland and will be heavily favored next week against Rutgers whether Young plays or not. Their final two games, however, will have Big Ten and national championship implications: at home against No. 5 Penn State and on the road against archrival No. 14 Michigan.
Nevius, a former college athlete at Dayton, also tweeted that “unfair and outdated NCAA rules punish athletes for making ends meet while enriching everyone else.”
The NCAA last month took the first step toward allowing college athletes to cash in on their fame, voting to permit them to “benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness.” The NCAA’s three divisions have been told to create the necessary new rules immediately and have them in place no later than January 2021.