OHIO STATE

Suspension of four Buckeyes hot topic at Big Ten event

Jon Spencer

It was nearly four minutes into his 13 minutes at the podium before Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer was asked a question about quarterbacks Thursday at Big Ten Media Days.

Unfathomable.

At least it was until Buckeye fans found out the hard way what it would take to put the great J.T. Barrett vs. Cardale Jones debate on the backburner.

News broke just before the start of this two-day event in downtown Chicago that Ohio State had suspended four players for the season opener at Virginia Tech for violating athletic department policy.

Meyer would not disclose the violations, but ESPN reported a source told its Joe Schad that the punishment of defensive end Joey Bosa — the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year — as well as receivers and/or H-backs Jalin Marshall, Dontre Wilson and Corey Smith had to do with marijuana and academics.

“I don’t think it jeopardizes our chances of winning (the opener) by any means, but it’s a huge opportunity for those guys who will be stepping into those positions,” said offensive tackle Taylor Decker, who joined linebacker Joshua Perry and defensive tackle Adolphus Washington as the three players representing the Buckeyes here.

“It creates a sense of urgency for those (suspended) guys, too, because they’ll probably be on scout team the entire camp. I’m not going to say I’m happy about it, but some positives can come out of it.”

Like Decker, Perry took an admonishing tone.

“We’re disappointed because we value a high level of accountability, but you also have to realize that nobody’s perfect. Guys make mistakes,” he said. “We have to be more focused.

“The way guys stepped up when we didn’t have players available (last season) was pretty amazing.”

Ohio State won the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship behind Jones, its third-string quarterback, after original starter Braxton Miller and Barrett, the replacement starter, were lost to injury.

Now all three quarterbacks are back, with Miller making the transition to receiver. But all of that became secondary news Thursday with hundreds of reporters in a ballroom hanging on Meyer’s every word.

“There’s no perfect team; there‘s no perfect program,” Meyer said. “And everyone deals with stuff. You know, when you’re Ohio State or some of these other big-time programs, stuff becomes a major deal. And this is.”

Meyer said in these cases he looks at three indicators: Academics, where he said OSU had the highest graduation rate in the history of the football program; the weight room, where Mickey Marotti, “the best strength coach in America,” evaluates everything; and, thirdly, what Meyer called “the social element.”

“That’s obviously the one that you keep one eye open,” he said. “And we’ve been relatively good ... so the indicators, other than this, have not been good; they’ve been great. But tomorrow is another day. And so we just keep pushing forward.”

Bosa has been touted as a possible No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NFL draft if he leaves school early. Meyer said his replacement will come from a group that includes redshirt sophomore Tyquan Lewis, redshirt freshmen Sam Hubbard and Darius Slade and sophomore Jalyn Holmes.

Meyer rattled off even more names when talking about overcoming the loss of three members of the receiving corps. There’s still Michael Thomas, Noah Brown, Nick Vannett, Johnnie Dixon, Terry McLaurin, Parris Campell and Curtis Samuel.

And don’t forget Miller, whose position switch appears to be coming at a fortuitous time.

“We are playing an extremely talented team and a well-coached team and a team on the road in a tough environment,” Meyer said of the Labor Day night opener at Virginia Tech, which handed the Buckeyes their only loss in Columbus last season. “However, we have recruited well, so you pick up and move forward.”

Washington, who will be the only returning starter on the defensive front in the opener, sounds like he’s already put the bad news behind him.

“It definitely unifies us,” he said. “The guys stepping in know they have to hold up their end of the bargain. We don’t do anything different. We just do what we do.

“Hopefully, we’ll pick up where we left off. We built great momentum in our last three games (the Big Ten Championship and two playoff victories) and hopefully that will carry over to Virginia Tech.”

Perry doesn’t want anyone to think Thursday’s surprising news means the defending national champs have lost their edge now that they’re on top of the mountain.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with that; it’s guys making a mistake,” he said. “There’s an element of human nature involved in getting to the top, too. You just have to find a way.”

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