Chase Young to be reinstated at Ohio State after NCAA inquiry

Chase Young will be back for Ohio State this season — but not this Saturday.

The university announced Wednesday the star defensive end will be eligible to resume play Nov. 23 when the Buckeyes play host to Penn State.

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At that point, he will have served a two-game suspension in a saga that became public Nov. 8 when the school announced it was looking into a potential NCAA violation that occurred in 2018.

“I appreciate the expediency to which the NCAA reviewed and responded to our request for reinstatement,” Ohio State director of athletics Gene Smith said in a 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 revealed last Friday he had accepted and paid back a loan from a family friend.

Coach Ryan Day said Tuesday he did not have an update on Young's eligibility status but that the Maryland native would practice with the Buckeyes this week as they prepare to play at Rutgers.

“I want to thank and express my sincere gratitude to university staff members who worked so diligently and expertly to learn and understand the facts, and then to report these facts to the NCAA as part of our request to have Chase reinstated,” Smith said. “This is the example of the culture of compliance we have at Ohio State.”

“I also want to commend Chase Young and let him know how proud we are of him. He took responsibility for his actions, cooperated throughout the process and understood and accepted that there would be consequences. He’s a team captain and a leader and most importantly, a Buckeye. He wanted nothing more than an opportunity to play again and we’re pleased that he’ll get that chance.”

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According to Ohio State’s news release, the school sought for Young to be able to play this weekend, but the NCAA ruled he would have to sit out a second game.

While the Scarlet Knights are 2-7 overall and have lost 18 consecutive Big Ten games, the Nittany Lions are 8-1 overall and No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

Penn State is a game back of the undefeated, second-ranked Buckeyes in the Big Ten East standings, but the winner of the game between the two is likely to represent the conference in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis because it will have the tiebreaker.

After closing out its home slate with PSU, Ohio State travels to Michigan.

Prior to last week, Young was enjoying a monster season for the Buckeyes.

He still leads the nation in sacks with 13.5 and is one short of breaking the Ohio State single-season record of 14 set by Vernon Gholston in 2007.

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