Stoneburner and Mewhort have athletic scholarships removed.

Submitted by CoachBuczekFHS on

ESPN.com is reporting that Jake Stoneburner and Jack Mewhort have had their athletic scholarships removed after being charged with obstruction of official police business. They pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of disorderly conduct. Urban Meyer has stated that they will have a chance to "earn" their scholarships back after the summer. My question is simple... Is this a real punishment? Or, is this a "Hey, as long as you don't do anything else dumb you'll be in uniform game one." type of situation. Link: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8059261/coach-urban-meyer-removes-scholarships-two-ohio-state-buckeyes

DonAZ

June 16th, 2012 at 9:21 AM ^

As noted, very likely a combination of "good cop / bad cop" and an attempt to send a message ... within the team and outside the team.

What I wonder is whether Meyer views Stoneburner as a key part of his offense.  Taking "tough" action against a third-stringer is one thing; taking it against a key first-stringer is another. 

I've always liked Stoneburner -- first, I like his name; and second, I can't recall any trash-talking BS on his part ... he just seems to play the game and do it fairly well.  OSU or not, I admire that.

CRex

June 16th, 2012 at 9:24 AM ^

I'm skepitcal of Meyer's motivations here.  Saban cleared his roster with medical hardships, Meyer always seemed to trim it at Florida with "team rules violations".  

Consider this, one of Meyer's top DTs (Wilson) pulled an AK-47 out of his trunk and fired it.  He'd gotten into a fight at a club and fired it off to discourage the people following him from calling 911.  He was allowed back on the team.  Other guys were removed from the team over a little weed.  The guys removed of course were buried on the two deep.  

If Mewhort and Stoneburner are judged unneeded, I bet they don't make it back onto the team.  If they are needed, they'll play of course.  We'll see though.  It's also kind of a bad punishment removing them team workouts IMHO.  Suspend them for games, but keep them in the structured enviroment of the team.  

Cope

June 16th, 2012 at 10:23 AM ^

That's how I see it. Unfortunately, it gives him room to move. Or are we all being too cynical? This is the guy who kicked a young Cam Newton off the team for stealing laptops. World around Florida's campus (my wife attended) was that it was not Cam's choice as he purports, but a final straw for Florida.

Course it's also the guy who supposedly let star players dictate practices over assistant coaches, per former players. My guess is they learn from the experience and find their way on the field.

wresler120

June 16th, 2012 at 9:35 AM ^

Had their athletic scholarships removed and have been immediately placed on a full academic scholarship instead. This frees up 2 scholarships for Meyer's incoming class and everyone at Ohio State wins.

dahblue

June 16th, 2012 at 9:37 AM ^

This whole situation is ridiculous.  The kids did something that tons of normal, generally law-abiding college students do.  The punishment is likely a token one, but the need to even levy such a penalty seems to come from the over-attention to the tiniest misdeeds of college athletes.  They urinated and public and ran from the cops.  And?  Would anyone care if they weren't Buckeyes?  BWC tried to pull a Dukes of Hazard.  And?  Anyone else pays for the damage and it's a complete non-issue.

When dealing with "bad behavior" of students, the focus should be on pot-luck dorm attacks, violent assaults and the like.  Coach's bad behavior (like lying about an ongoing NCAA violation, paying recruits' runners, raping young children, etc.) should fill the spotlight.  Public urination?  I think the spotlight has gotten way too broad if this is an issue (so says Gary Moeller).

mgobleu

June 16th, 2012 at 11:24 AM ^

I've been under a rock lately and had no idea what these guys were in trouble for. But seriously? Public urination? (raises hand) I'm guilty too! Glad I'm not currently receiving scholarship benefits, cuz they'd be revoked if they found out what I regularly do when I leave bars. And dont tell me this happened in Columbus either, cuz honestly, have any one of you swung a dead cat in that town without hitting 3 buckeye fans taking a dump or a piss? Impossible. Hell, just driving through ohio makes me want to stop and pee on every building. Especially those stupid bicentennial barns. No story here.

tpilews

June 16th, 2012 at 9:40 AM ^

This isn't even a real punishment if they aren't taking summer classes. As we all have come to see, scholarships are one-year renewable. So, at this point, Meyer has said they won't get that scholarship back for the 2012-2013 school year. Does any one actually believe they won't get that scholarship reinstated the second they are due to be turned in?

This "punishment" looks great in the eyes of the public that has no idea how scholarships work. In reality, it's nothing more than words.

BlueNColumbus

June 16th, 2012 at 10:28 AM ^

Urbie making it seem he is being hard.  They will be back come time to report for first practice. They can't be with the team basically and that's all.  If they are not taking any classes in summer, they're out no money.

michiganbum3000

June 16th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^

Both are big time contributors to the team and both starters. I believe Meyer said Stoneburner has a chance to be All-American this year after he gets done with him.

DenverBuckeye

June 16th, 2012 at 10:54 AM ^

The real punishment is exclusion from working with the team. Both are taking classes this summer that they'll now have to pay for, but both of their families seem to be able to handle it. Meyer has repeatedly mentioned these guys as two of our best offensive players. Has said that Mewhort is our best OL and that Stoneburner is one of the two best playmakers. This means they go the entire summer with no watching film with the rest of the offense, no running routes with Braxton at the WHAC, no working on plays with the rest of the 2 deep. Players at major programs can't be coached in the summer, but they re normally working with their position group every day. These guys can't now and that hurts us going forward. For peeing outside, it's not exactly a wink wink nudge punishment.

tigers17fan

June 16th, 2012 at 1:08 PM ^

I hate to say it but I agree with you. I hadn't thought of this before; my initail response was that it was just a wink wink nudge thing. But now, I feel like this is tough but fair punishment by Meyer (if they hadn't run I don't think it would be as big a problem and the punishment would be unfair). Thanks for the good input and being a rational buckeye fan (I'm used to encountering the crazy bunch of fans that every team has, Michigan included).

Vote_Crisler_1937

June 16th, 2012 at 4:56 PM ^

If scholarships are annual renewable then weren't these courses paid for as part of their previous registration when they were on scholarship? Show proof that their parents pay even one cent for classes. Also, I know I had to resign my scholarship every August but that never excluded me, or a walk on from participating any summer workout. I don't see why they wouldn't be full go with all team workouts just because they "might not" get on scholarship in the fall. This nothing more than a sternly worded warning to them not to screw up again. I have no opinion whether this is a fair punishment but I do not believe this will cost them any money nor miss one minute of film/workouts.

Scarlatina

June 17th, 2012 at 2:23 AM ^

was given to me at the beginning of every term, which I'm pretty sure is standard practice (I would think it would be common sense that a college shouldn't give a student a lump sum upwards of $24000 during the first quarter). So I think they now have to pay somewhere close to $3000, depending on the number of credit hours they're enrolled in.

Also I'm pretty certain that DenverBuckeye isn't alluding that the two players won't practice at full intensity, but rather they are now barred from practicing with their teammates. Meaning, Stoneburner can't run routes with Braxton Miller nor can Mewhort develop chemistry with the rest of his relatively young O-line.

 

Scarlatina

June 17th, 2012 at 2:26 AM ^

This is the truly harmful part of this punishment.

Yes, it sucks that they have to pay for the summer term now, but I don't think it's nearly as harmful as them losing the reps that they could've had with the team during the summer.

TESOE

June 16th, 2012 at 11:29 AM ^

It's a roster move.  Someone else is going to run the routes and do the work this summer.  He's part coaching part wheeling and dealing these kids.  Once on scholarship this sort of power game for such a minor infraction is classless. 

I prefer the Hoke way administered through the graces of Wellman and 45 lb plates in AM workouts. 

Muttley

June 17th, 2012 at 3:49 AM ^

Ticket sales would be tough.

Now if you changed it to "what if all of the fans that were stupid enough to get caught urinating in public were banned", you could still fill the stadiums.

As someone above guessed, maybe Stoneburner & Mewhort are known knuckleheads that Meyer worries about.  Perhaps this is his way to keep them ON the team.

Perkis-Size Me

June 17th, 2012 at 7:18 AM ^

whether or not they are going to be reinstated, this is more than i expected from meyer. he earned a notch of respect in my book. that puts him at notch one. i really just expected a slap on the wrist.