Suspended Buckeyes apologize

By Doug Lesmerises

Cleveland Plain Dealer

COLUMBUS

The Ohio State Buckeyes returned to campus Sunday and met as a team for the first time since six players were suspended by the NCAA for the start of next season. According to two team sources, that meeting included an apology from the players involved and a discussion by the seniors on whether those suspended should play in the Sugar Bowl, as the NCAA has ruled they are allowed to do.

According to sources, the suspended players are scheduled to travel with the team to New Orleans, but the final decision on what happens to quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Dan Herron, receiver DeVier Posey, left tackle Mike Adams, backup defensive end Solomon Thomas and backup linebacker Jordan Whiting lies with Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. A source said one scenario could include the sanctioned Buckeyes playing in the Sugar Bowl, but perhaps not starting.

So the Buckeyes got back to practice Monday apparently with a full squad as they prepare to face Arkansas on Jan. 4. They’ll practice again today before flying to New Orleans on Wednesday.

While those six players have been facing reaction from across the country after a news conference four days ago revealed they’d sold memorabilia for more than $7,000 combined and accepted discounted tattoos from a Columbus tattoo parlor, now the Buckeyes have to face this as a team. For the more than 100 players on the roster who had nothing to do with these NCAA sanctions, that may not be easy.

“I can’t tell you what I would do, because I’ve never seen a situation like this,” said former Ohio State safety Dustin Fox, a captain on the 2004 Buckeyes team. “If you get up and talk bad about your teammates, it’s tough, because those guys are leaders, too. Players like Herron and Posey and TP, they aren’t just freshman or sophomore backups.”

Fox said he would have wanted an apology from the players, because Pryor, Posey and others have to “try some way to get the team to believe in them,” Fox said.

To Fox, the fact that the players are scheduled to play in the Sugar Bowl, while being suspended for the first five games of next season (Whiting is suspended for only one game), complicates the matter. Often in these situations, a player is suspended and the team just moves on without him for a period of time.

This time, the Buckeyes are moving on together, then losing those teammates for the start of next season, unless they lose them to the NFL draft instead. For now, it started with what was described as a heartfelt apology that was followed by the support of their teammates.