Ohio State to seek reinstatement for Chase Young soon

“Ohio State is expected to submit a written report to the NCAA early this week seeking the reinstatement of star defensive end Chase Young, CBS Sports has learned.”

- Dennis Dodd, CBSSportsline.com

The Chase Young situation has been reported on constantly since it broke late last week, but hopefully it is coming to a close soon. Ohio State is filing an official report to reinstate Young n the near future, if it hasn’t already been submitted at this point.

OSU has reportedly followed every protocol so far, which is to hold the athlete out of competition and then ask for reinstatement from the NCAA’s five-person Student-Athlete Reinstatement committee. Ohio State can attempt to expedite the request by listing it as urgent because they have a game within ten days of the request.

Typically, the committee will respond within 24-48 hours of the written report. That would give him a shot at Rutgers if he’s found “innocent,” but a lot goes into the bureaucracy of the NCAA, so I probably wouldn’t bank on it.

The main hangups for the case are the relationship between the loaner to Young and the amount loaned. If OSU can prove that the relationship is not dependent on Young’s status as a collegiate athlete, that should go a long way. Despite the initial rumors, it doesn’t appear that the reported family friend was an agent. If he was, any prospective punishment falls under NCAA by-law 12.3, which is more severe than any normal compensation, as it guarantees suspension.

Instead, the case will most likely fall under by-law 12.4.1, which has different punishments depending on when the infraction occurred. Since it happened before June 12, 2019 the dollar limit changes by $100. $800 is the magic number most are throwing around, which would lead to the most severe punishment; which would be 30 percent of the season, or four games for FBS football.

The punishment tiers are as follows:

a. Value of benefit $200 or less = repayment;
b. Value of benefit ranges from greater than $200 to $400 = withholding of 10 percent and repayment;
c. Value of benefit ranges from greater than $400 to $700 = withholding of 20 percent and repayment; and
d. Value of benefit greater than $700 = withholding of 30 percent and repayment.

The last piece of the puzzle, as outlined here by LGHL’s Tia Williams, will be if Ohio State knew about the infraction last season. If OSU did, then they could see any game Young played in vacated. That of course, is the worst case scenario. Best case is the board decides that no infraction took place and an angry Chase Young breaks the single-game sack record against Rutgers (that’s six for those wondering).

“The Buckeyes will be without their lone senior for the second-straight game as Andre Wesson has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s matchup with No. 10 Villanova due to an eye socket injury, Chris Holtmann announced on Tuesday.”

- Kevin Harrish, Eleven Warriors

While men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann seemed optimistic about Andre Wesson and was unwilling to rule him out for a couple weeks, it looks like that is an inevitability at this point. Wesson reportedly suffered a fractured eye socket during the Buckeye’s opener against Cincinnati.

Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch reported last week that the injury would require a two-week timetable before he returned. That would put Wesson out for at least Villanova, Stetson and possibly Purdue Fort Wayne. While Wesson was unneeded as the Buckeyes downed the over-matched University of Massachusetts Lowell, Villanova is a different beast entirely. It will most likely be OSU’s only challenge this month, and they are already without junior Musa Jallow.

Offensive slow starts have been the weak point for this Buckeye team two games in, and going scoreless in the first six to eight minutes like they have thus far won’t cut it against the nation’s No. 10 team. On the other hand, the OSU defense has been suffocating, but will miss Wesson who is one of the best wings defenders they have.

Duane Washington Jr. filled in for Wesson against UMass Lowell, and will probably do so again on Wednesday. He had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 27 minutes of action.

“In redshirt senior linebacker Justin Hilliard’s mind, he’s viewing this as his last season at Ohio State. But if the NCAA allows, his college football career might extend an extra year.”

- Colin Hass-Hill, Eleven Warriors

Justin Hilliard has officially filed an application for a sixth year of eligibility to the NCAA and is now awaiting their response. Hilliard is filing it per the NCAA Division 1 Manual bylaw that “the student-athlete is deprived of the opportunity to participate for more than one season in his or her sport within the five-year period of eligibility for reasons that are beyond the control of the student-athlete or the institution.”

Hilliard almost certainly qualifies under that due to the rash of injuries that he has suffered in his career. He was an extremely highly-rated recruit coming out of high school in 2015, a five-star linebacker and the No. 1 player in Ohio. However, Buckeye fans have not been able to see what he can do, as Hilliard missed his entire freshman year for a torn bicep, missed 80 percent of the next year by tearing his other bicep, and then had a torn Achilles earlier this year that kept him out until Week 3.

So far this season, Hilliard has seen his playtime steadily increase, and even started against Wisconsin and was part of the unit that stifled running back Jonathan Taylor.

Hilliard and head coach Ryan Day have not yet had a chance to speak about the potential of a sixth year, but Hilliard expects those talks to start “within the next week or two.” Hilliard has maintained that even if he is granted eligibility there’s no guarantee he would return, but he wants to keep his options open.

The linebacking corps is probably what many would consider the weakest group that the Buckeyes have; especially on the defense. Coming off of a terrible 2018 season, they are much improved, but don’t quite have the star power that the line and secondary have. But that doesn’t mean that the group is actually weak.

They have an entrenched four players that have been taking the majority of the snaps this year with Malik Harrison, Tuf Borland and Pete Werner, starting, but Baron Browning actually playing more than Borland.

Next year they will only lose Harrison to graduation, while adding three linebackers from the 2020 recruiting class, and the 2019 crop of Cade Stover and Tommy Eichenberg will also be looking for more playing time.

Still, a team can’t have too many blue chips at once right? Depth can be the best problem to have. Hilliard says that this has been the best he’s felt in awhile, and he will have a lot of high profile opportunities to prove that he still has it, starting with what should be a backup-filled game against Rutgers, and then only big games left on the schedule.

Quick Hits:

• Shout outs to the OSU students that set up this beautiful message.

Stick to Sports:

• 900 KG of cocaine washed up on beaches in France.
• Italy’s racism problems continue as a poll saw 55 percent of citizens say that racist acts were sometimes or always justifiable.
• Mouse deer species thought to be extinct seen in Vietnam.