COLUMBUS, Ohio — The list of core values was barely tested in Urban Meyer’s first season.
The Ohio State coach had only one case with which to establish precedent last year, and if that wasn’t enough to make it clear that he would react swiftly and fiercely, Carlos Hyde apparently handed him an even bigger platform to deliver the message on Saturday.
And if Hyde’s indefinite suspension from the roster less than two weeks before the start of training camp doesn’t help paint the picture well enough for the Buckeyes, maybe nothing will.
The impact was far different last summer, but it set a precedent on alleged acts of violence against women. Storm Klein’s instant dismissal for an offseason incident with a woman last summer ultimately didn’t stick when the domestic violence charges against the linebacker were dismissed, and he was allowed to return to the team after missing the first two games of the season following a guilty plea to a lesser charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
But Klein, a senior, wasn’t expected to be a major contributor, wasn’t on watch lists honoring the best players in the country at his position and couldn’t help the team win a national title thanks to the NCAA sanctions that blocked the Buckeyes from a bowl game. Hyde checks all of those boxes for Ohio State a season after scoring 17 touchdowns and forming one of the most effective inside-outside rushing combinations in the country with quarterback Braxton Miller.
Suspending Hyde from the program before charges have even been filed in an alleged assault case in a Columbus bar sends a signal that’s effectively impossible for the rest of the Buckeyes to ignore, even if he might ultimately be able to return to the fold.
Continue reading this article at ESPN: Meyer’s discipline back in the spotlight
