Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer watches his team during a punt return against Northwestern Wildcats during the 2nd quarter in the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis, Ind on December 1, 2018. [Kyle Robertson/Dispatch]

Right in the middle of the Rose Bowl, Ohio State defensive back Marcus Williamson started tweeting that he had retired from the team and sport.

That’s interesting enough, but he then went on to make allegations about the Ohio State coaching staff and the way they treated him and other black players. Specifically, he called our former head coach Urban Meyer and said that he once used a photo of Trayvon Martin in a PowerPoint presentation to drive home the team’s “no hoods” policy. Martin infamously was killed during an incident that started when he was seen wearing a hoodie and assumed to be some kind of criminal.

Jeff Snook, who has written several books about Ohio State, said in a Facebook post on Sunday that he had reached out to Meyer to confirm the allegation. Meyer responded by saying that he did have a team rule against hats, hoodies, and sunglasses in team meetings, but adamantly denied using a photo of Martin.

“Our team rule was no hats or hoodies or sunglasses of any kind but only in team meetings, just so we could see their eyes and make sure they were paying attention and not asleep,” said Meyer. “We did not, and never would show a picture of Trayvon Martin. My gosh, no. That is absolutely false and you can check with any other player on my teams during that time to confirm what I am saying. Other players know what he is saying is false. I would never do that. He is crossing the line here. It seems people are just piling on now. But that never happened.”

Other Ohio State players have made public statements defending Meyer from the allegation.

Meyer has been harshly judged in the court of public opinion recently. His short tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars was marked with a viral video fiasco, many reports of disagreements with players, an allegation of physically assaulting a player, and allegations of verbally abusing assistant coaches. So unfortunately for him, the allegations are easy for a lot of people to accept. However, there definitely appear to be two strong sides to this story, true or not.

[Jeff Snook]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.