Ohio State football took a devastating blow midweek when it was announced that superstar third-year defensive end Chase Young was suspended indefinitely from the NCAA for an incident that occurred in 2018.
In regard to the situation, Young elaborated that he had taken a private loan from a family friend during the summer of 2018, which was against NCAA rules, and has since paid off the loan prior to the beginning of the season. The NCAA states the following regarding students taking private loans: A student-athlete may receive a loan from an established family friend without such arrangement constituting an extra benefit, provided:
- The loan is not offered to the student-athlete based in any degree on his or her athletics ability or reputation;
- The individual providing the loan is not considered a representative of the institution’s athletics interests; and
- The relationship between the individual providing the loan and the student-athlete existed prior to the beginning of his or her recruitment by the member institution.
Evidently, the NCAA held doubt that Young’s loan abided by their three rules, and will venture further into the case in the coming weeks.
In 2017, Young came into his collegiate career as the second-ranked defensive lineman and the seventh-ranked player overall in college football. Young is in the midst of a year in which he was considered a Heisman candidate. The Heisman award has not been won by a defensive player since Michigan’s legendary cornerback Charles Woodson won the award in 1997, and considering Young, now in the midst of a suspension, was the best hope for a defensive player to win the award, it’s unlikely that the 22-year streak will be broken this year. Young being in the final conversation for the award was not totally out of the question when you consider that Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed a couple of weeks with injury, quarterback Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma lost to an unranked Kansas State after the Sooners essentially had a cakewalk to the College Football Playoffs with their schedule. With all the recent developments with the candidates around the country, it seems like the Heisman race will come down to which candidate outperforms the other when quarterback Joe Burrow and LSU head to Tuscaloosa to challenge Tagovailoa and Alabama.
Continuing on to what Young’s role is with Ohio State and what this potential loss means to them, Young leads all of college football with 13.5 sacks and is half a sack away from tying Ohio State’s school record set back in 2007 by defensive end Vernon Gholston. In the meantime, the Buckeyes are certain that Chase Young will be missing Saturday’s game against Maryland. Maryland is 3-6 and should not pose much of a threat to the Buckeyes, but the question is whether Young will miss multiple games, especially as we approach the end of the season when each game matters more than the last. Next week, Ohio State will face the 2-7 Rutgers who also should not give them much of a problem, but the week after is when they welcome undefeated No. 4 Penn State in a game that will have massive College Football Playoff implications.
Young really made a name for himself after Ohio State blew out No. 13 Wisconsin 38-7, a contest in which Young dominated, racking up four sacks and five tackles for loss. He was a key part to Ohio State shutting down Wisconsin’s Heisman candidate and running back Jonathan Taylor, holding him to 52 yards and zero touchdowns on 20 carries (2.6 YPC).
“He’s probably the most dominant player in all of college football right now,” Ohio State’s head coach Ryan Day commented post-game. “His impact in a game like this goes to show his versatility. This was not just a passing game where you go after the quarterback. You had to play tough and gritty inside.”
Young stands at the ideal defensive end weight and height, measuring in at 285 pounds and standing at six feet, six inches tall, while also having all of the pass-rushing skill and intangible mentality to compete at the next level. Young is expected to be the top defensive player to be selected in the 2020 NFL draft, as long as these charges are not serious enough to derail what could and should be a dominant career.
