Report: Chase Young took loan from NFLPA-certified agent

Chase Young will miss Ohio State’s game on Saturday against Maryland while the school’s athletic department looks into an eligibility matter concerning the junior defensive lineman. Young revealed that the eligibility issue surrounds a loan he received from a “family friend” he met the summer before his freshman year at Ohio State. Young says he has paid back the loan in full.

Though Young said he took money from a “family friend,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio said on Twitter he heard the friend is also an NFLPA-certified agent.

I'm hearing that the "family friend" who gave Chase Young a loan is also an NFLPA-certfied agent. Which if true could possibly cause more problems for the agent than for Young.

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) November 8, 2019

NCAA rules prevent players from accepting money from agents, which is why the Buckeyes are sitting out the defensive star. Whether this was a case of Young accepting money from a legitimate friend or from an agent trying to bribe him is in question. Their determination could affect the punishment in the matter.

FS1’s Joel Klatt later said the friend was not an agent. The precedent for punishment in a situation similar to Young’s tends to be a 1-2 game suspension. Kentucky’s Denzil Ware was suspended one game in 2017 for something similar, though that was a bowl game and he later transferred to an FCS school.

Some reference:

Bama’s Ha Ha Clinton-Dix received (and paid back) a $500 loan from assistant strength and conditioning coach Corey Harris. He was suspended two games in 2013.
Kentucky’s Denzil Ware received a $1,628 loan from an agent in 2017 and was suspended one game. https://t.co/u4na89e0RC

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) November 8, 2019

Even a two-game suspension would not seem too problematic for Ohio State. They face Maryland and Rutgers — both games they should win without Young — before concluding the season against Penn State and Michigan, where they definitely would want the stud.