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Top Ohio State football prospect facing second senior-year suspension... for playing football
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Mick Walker | 247Sports
Other 2025 prospects set their spring visit schedules as recruiting cycle picks up.
On the same day that the Ohio State football team disclosed a series of seriously minor NCAA violations, it was reported that one of its top targets in the 2025 cycle is facing a suspension that would impact his senior year. According to 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong, Ohio’s top-ranked prospect Trey McNutt has been suspended for one game during his senior season for playing in a 7-on-7 football tournament outside of the approved time period according to OHSAA rules.
McNutt, the son of former Ohio State defensive back Richard McNutt, is the No. 37-ranked player in the country according to 247’s Composite Rankings and the No. 2 safety nationally. Last month, the Shaker Heights star played in the Battle Miami 7v7 tournament with Fast Houston and is set to play in the USA Flag 7v7 event this weekend. The prized prospect knows that this is against Ohio’s antiquated rules, but he is playing anyway.
“I think that the rule is unacceptable,” McNutt told 247Sports. “It’s taking control of the kids and it feels like it’s stripping basic rights away. How are you going to tell somebody they can’t go and train or play football at all, and at the same time, these other sports they’re able to play AAU and everything, but football can’t do it?”
According to OHSAA rules, “non-interscholastic team in that same sport between August 1 and May 14. Any contact football, flag football, touch football and arena football are examples of non-permissible events.”
Other Ohio high school sports do not have this rule, leading many to believe that it is not the OHSAA pushing the restrictions, but the Ohio State High School Football Coaches Association. No matter who is behind the ludicrous rule, McNutt is not a fan.
“I’m fighting this rule because it’s generally wrong and it’s for the generations after me,” he said.
Having already been suspended for one game in his senior year, McNutt faces a potential further suspension for playing in this weekend’s upcoming tournament. While many states — especially in the south — have actual spring football to allow players and teams to improve, the OHSAA rule is supposedly designed to encourage football players to participate in other spring sports, but instead, it harms their chosen sport, actively harming their development and collegiate potential.
The rule is, was, and always has been dumb and is clearly becoming increasingly behind the times as collegiate football continues to evolve. Hopefully, McNutt’s challenge of the rule will lead to substantive changes in how Ohio handles high school football and the unnecessary limitations it puts on the athletes it is supposed to be protecting.
Continue reading...
Matt Tamanini via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Mick Walker | 247Sports
Other 2025 prospects set their spring visit schedules as recruiting cycle picks up.
On the same day that the Ohio State football team disclosed a series of seriously minor NCAA violations, it was reported that one of its top targets in the 2025 cycle is facing a suspension that would impact his senior year. According to 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong, Ohio’s top-ranked prospect Trey McNutt has been suspended for one game during his senior season for playing in a 7-on-7 football tournament outside of the approved time period according to OHSAA rules.
McNutt, the son of former Ohio State defensive back Richard McNutt, is the No. 37-ranked player in the country according to 247’s Composite Rankings and the No. 2 safety nationally. Last month, the Shaker Heights star played in the Battle Miami 7v7 tournament with Fast Houston and is set to play in the USA Flag 7v7 event this weekend. The prized prospect knows that this is against Ohio’s antiquated rules, but he is playing anyway.
“I think that the rule is unacceptable,” McNutt told 247Sports. “It’s taking control of the kids and it feels like it’s stripping basic rights away. How are you going to tell somebody they can’t go and train or play football at all, and at the same time, these other sports they’re able to play AAU and everything, but football can’t do it?”
According to OHSAA rules, “non-interscholastic team in that same sport between August 1 and May 14. Any contact football, flag football, touch football and arena football are examples of non-permissible events.”
Other Ohio high school sports do not have this rule, leading many to believe that it is not the OHSAA pushing the restrictions, but the Ohio State High School Football Coaches Association. No matter who is behind the ludicrous rule, McNutt is not a fan.
“I’m fighting this rule because it’s generally wrong and it’s for the generations after me,” he said.
Having already been suspended for one game in his senior year, McNutt faces a potential further suspension for playing in this weekend’s upcoming tournament. While many states — especially in the south — have actual spring football to allow players and teams to improve, the OHSAA rule is supposedly designed to encourage football players to participate in other spring sports, but instead, it harms their chosen sport, actively harming their development and collegiate potential.
The rule is, was, and always has been dumb and is clearly becoming increasingly behind the times as collegiate football continues to evolve. Hopefully, McNutt’s challenge of the rule will lead to substantive changes in how Ohio handles high school football and the unnecessary limitations it puts on the athletes it is supposed to be protecting.
Quick Hits
- The top player in the Washington DC area Kainoa Winston has locked in a visit to Columbus for next month. The Gonzaga High School safety is currently ranked as the No. 27 player in the country according to 247Sports, and Eleven Warriors is reporting that he will visit the Buckeyes on March 23. While OSU safeties coach Matt Guerrieri wasn’t on staff when Winston initially received his offer, the two are in constant communication now, talking nearly five times per week.
- Four-star edge rusher Darren Ikinnagbon is set to visit with the Buckeyes in April, according to a report from 247Sports. The No. 334 player in the country, Ikinnagbon will hit Columbus on April 3 after traveling to South Bend to visit Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on March 19. After his trip to OSU, Ikinnagbon will visit Georgia on April 12. The New Jersey native is also working out the details to visit Penn State and Rutgers as well.
- 247Sport’s Allen Trieu is reporting that Four-star offensive line prospect Avery Gach is planning a visit to Ohio State this spring, but no dates have been finalized. The No. 215 player in the country and No. 2 prospect in Michigan will be visiting Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State, and hopefully Wisconsin as well. In addition to those Big Ten squads, Gach is planning on taking an official visit to Penn State as well.
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