We have an update to the story of the Ohio State played who appeared to quit the team on Saturday night.
Well, he did not in fact quit the team, but on Sunday morning was dismissed from the team by head coach Ryan Day.
The news was reported by On3 Sports.
Full details on the incident below, but essentially, the player was linebacker K'Vaughn Pope, who had an incident on the sideline and had to be escorted to the locker room during the Buckeyes' win over Akron.
There he put out a slew of tweets, including one which he eventually released that said "F**k Ohio State." Again, he later deleted it.
On Sunday morning he apologized tweeting:
Still, apparently it wasn't enough, as Ryan Day has decided to send him packing. Per the On3 report, Ohio State has left open the possibility of Pope staying in school on scholarship and earning his degree.
Below is the full write-up from last night on the incident.
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It hasn't been the greatest start to the season for Ohio State.
In Week 2 there was that loss to Oregon. Last week, they held on for dear life against Tulsa. And this week, they had to turn to a back-up quarterback, as CJ Stroud is dealing with a lingering shoulder injury.
Still, everything appeared to be going well against Akron, as the Buckeyes led 38-7 at halftime.
Well, everything was going well, until apparently, a key linebacker quit the team... mid-game.
First, what happened, with the report coming from a report from On 3 Sports' Austin Ward:
After trying to run out on the field in a substitution package in the second quarter on Saturday night against Akron, the senior linebacker was waved off by teammate Teradja Mitchell. Once getting back to the sideline, a visibly upset Pope started walking down the sideline by himself and was heading back to the locker room on his own.
Eventually he was corralled by Buckeyes staffer C.J. Barnett in the south end zone, and Pope was guided back to the sideline. Once there, though, Pope took off his gloves and threw them into the stands and began removing his Ohio State jersey — which apparently caught the attention of coach Ryan Day. After another conversation with multiple staffers, Pope was then led to the locker room while the game was ongoing.
He then sent two tweets from the locker room, that appear to indicate he has quit, one of which has since been deleted.
And then another.
Considering he deleted the first one, you can assume potentially, that Pope realized exactly what he'd done and calmed down.
Maybe he didn't quit, or maybe he has.
We'll keep you updated as things continue to unfold.
One thing worth noting: Ohio State lost another linebacker - Dallas Gant - to the transfer portal this week.
It's pretty clear that whether Pope truly is done with the program or not, the Buckeyes locker room is not in a very good place right now.