Ohio State University athletic administrators say defensive lineman Chase Young will return to the field November 23 against Penn State, effectively serving a two-game suspension for a loan that Young says came from a family friend.Last Friday, athletic department officials said Young would be held out of Saturday’s Maryland game because of a possible NCAA issue. Later that day, Young tweeted that he “made a mistake last year by accepting a loan from a family friend I've known since the summer before my freshman year at OSU."
Young says he repaid the loan last summer, but Ohio State administrators say it still violated an NCAA rule forbidding preferential treatment for student athletes.
“I appreciate the expediency to which the NCAA reviewed and responded to our request for reinstatement,” said Ohio State Atheltics Director Gene Smith in a Wednesday statement. “We felt that based on the circumstances, the NCAA would use its leadership capacity to take an understanding approach on behalf of all student-athletes who find themselves in a similar position, and it certainly did just that.”
Young skyrocketed to national fame this year during of the best seasons for a defensive player in Ohio State history. Young had 13.5 sacks through the Buckeyes' first eight games, just a half-sack shy of the season record. It appeared nearly certain Young would break the record in the season's final four games.
The breakout season had Young listed among the likely finalists for the Heisman Trophy, the annual award given to college football's best player. It hasn't been awarded to a defensive player since Michigan's Charles Woodson won it in 1997.
