Sports Ohio State said Friday morning that star defensive end Chase Young would miss Saturday’s game against Maryland.
The athletic department said in a statement that Young won’t play “due to a possible NCAA issue from 2018 that the Department of Athletics is looking into.” No other specifics were given by the school, nor was a timeline given for a resolution to the situation. Per Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel, the length of Young’s absence will be determined by pending NCAA appeals.
Young said in a tweet Friday morning that he had accepted a loan from a family friend in 2018 and had then repaid it in full.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the loan in question is believed to have been used to purchase airfare for Young’s family to attend last year’s Rose Bowl, in which the Buckeyes beat Washington 28-23.
Young has been the dominant defensive player of the 2019 college football season. He has 15.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in eight games this season and was the best player on the field in No. 1 Ohio State’s 38-7 home win over No. 13 Wisconsin in October. Any chances Young had at prying the 2019 Heisman from a quarterback like LSU’s Joe Burrow or Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts are certainly toast.
If what Ohio State is investigating is actually an NCAA violation, Young’s eligibility since the time of the infraction would be in question, meaning he could have been playing the 2019 season as an ineligible player. That could have ramifications for Ohio State’s official statistics and record.
The Buckeyes play Rutgers after Maryland before the schedule gets wild for the final two games of the season. OSU plays No. 4 Penn State at home on Nov. 23 before traveling to Ann Arbor to play No. 14 Michigan in the regular-season finale on Nov. 30.