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Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, who was bullied by NHL prospect Mitchell Miller in middle school, says he hasn’t seen any proof that Miller has changed his ways.

In a statement released Wednesday by the Hockey Diversity Alliance, Meyer-Crothers, who is Black and has developmental disabilities, said Miller reached out by text to apologize and to say he was doing community work to help young people.

“I told him, ‘That’s all cool but where is the proof though?’ He didn’t give me any [proof],” Meyer-Crothers said.

“All the lies I have been told from him for so many years I don’t believe what Mitchell told me.”

The statement was released days after the Boston Bruins rescinded their entry-level contract offer to Miller, who was originally selected by Arizona in the fourth round of the 2020 draft.

Bruins president Cam Neely said Monday the team “dropped the ball” with its internal vetting of the defenseman.

Boston signed Miller on Friday, leading to sweeping criticism from Bruins players, from captain Patrice Bergeron on down, as well as Boston’s fan base.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also weighed in, saying Miller would not be eligible to play in the league without major changes.

The offer to Miller was rescinded late Sunday, with Neely saying in a statement the Bruins thought Miller’s conduct was an isolated incident and that the team reversed course based on new information — particularly that the team hadn’t spoken to Meyer-Crothers or his family.

In 2016, at age 14, Miller pleaded guilty to one count of assault and one count of violation of the Ohio Safe Schools Act. He and another teenager were accused of making Meyer-Crothers eat a candy push pop after wiping it in a bathroom urinal, and surveillance video showed them kicking and punching him.

Meyer-Crothers said the abuse went on for years.

“Mitchell used to ask me to sit with him on the bus and then he and his friends would punch me in the head,” Meyer-Crothers said. “This happened my whole time in school.

“When I went to junior high Mitchell would spit in my face and call me a ‘N word.’ I stopped telling because they called me a snitch and I would get made fun of.”

Meyer-Crothers said Miller’s friends continued the bullying once Miller was expelled from school.

“Everyone thought he was cool, but I don’t see how someone can be cool when you pick on someone and bully someone your entire life,” Meyer-Crothers said.

Meyer-Crothers said he has recently received racist and abusive messages on social media.

“Mitchell isn’t my friend. It hurts my heart what he did to me,” he said. “So I just wanted to tell everyone — when Mitchell says we’re friends it isn’t true.

“I can’t take more of this.”

Before being drafted by Arizona, Miller sent a letter to all 31 NHL teams acknowledging what happened and apologizing for his behavior.

“When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely,” Miller said in a statement. “I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual. Since the incident, I have come to better understand the far-reaching consequences of my actions that I failed to recognize and understand nearly seven years ago.”

The Coyotes drafted Miller despite knowing of his 2016 assault conviction. The team parted ways with Miller amid criticism after learning more about his bullying of Meyer-Crothers.

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Wisconsin QB O’Neil carted off with leg injury

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Wisconsin QB O'Neil carted off with leg injury

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin quarterback Danny O’Neil was carted off the field and into the locker room after injuring his leg in the first quarter of the Badgers’ game against No. 24 Washington (No. 23 College Football Playoff) on Saturday.

O’Neil got up at the end of a 21-yard keeper, limped and then went back down and clutched his right leg. Wisconsin announced in the second quarter that O’Neil would miss the rest of the game with what was officially ruled a lower-body injury.

The San Diego State transfer was making his first start since a Sept. 13 loss to Alabama, though he had played in a reserve role Sept. 20 against Maryland and Oct. 18 against Ohio State.

Freshman Carter Smith took over for O’Neil and made his college debut Saturday.

Quarterback issues have hindered Wisconsin throughout the season. Billy Edwards Jr. was Wisconsin’s first-team quarterback at the start of the year, but he sprained his knee in the second quarter of the Badgers’ season opener and has played only one full series since.

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

Ohio State standout receiver Carnell Tate sat out Saturday’s game against Purdue after suffering a minor undisclosed injury during pregame warmups.

Coach Ryan Day said the Buckeyes held Tate out just as a precaution.

“[Tate] wanted to play,” Day said, “but we’ve got a lot of football ahead us.”

The top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) still defeated Purdue 34-10 to remain unbeaten. Jeremiah Smith led Ohio State with a career-high 10 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.

This season, Tate has 39 receptions for 711 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns.

The Buckeyes play UCLA next weekend.

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

LUBBOCK, Texas — Stone Harrington kicked a school-record five field goals and standout Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had two takeaways as the No. 9 Red Raiders defeated No. 8 BYU 29-7 on Saturday, holding the previously undefeated Cougars to a season-low 255 total yards in a game with Big 12 and playoff implications.

Behren Morton passed for 216 yards and threw a 9-yard touchdown to Caleb Douglas while Cameron Dickey ran for 121 yards and a 1-yard score for Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 8 CFP), which played in its first top-10 matchup since 2008.

“I told the team we have another gear,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “We can play better.”

BYU (8-1, 5-1, No. 7 CFP) had never played in such a game, though the teams could meet again in the Big 12 championship game in four weeks in Arlington, Texas.

Harrington kicked field goals of 47, 39, 34, 29 and 27 yards.

Rodriguez, the FBS leader with seven forced fumbles, had an interception midway through the third period leading to Harrington’s fourth field goal. He recovered a backward pass late in the fourth quarter that set up Harrington’s final kick.

Tech has gone from ranking 121st last season in the FBS allowing 34.8 points per game to fifth at 13.2 going into Saturday and lowering that to 12.6.

“Yeah, we are a better [defensive] team than we were last year,” Rodriguez said. “But … we’ve still got a lot of things to clean up.”

BYU snapped a 10-game winning streak dating back to last season. The Cougars avoided their first shutout since 2017 when Bear Bachmeier threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Roberts midway through the fourth quarter.

The Cougars went into the game third in the FBS in turnover margin at plus-1.25. They lost two fumbles, threw an interception and muffed a punt.

Bachmeier was 23-of-38 passing for 188 yards. The true freshman also had two turnovers, an interception and a backward pass for a fumble.

“A couple of passes and a muffed punt cost us, I think, 13 points,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Even after that, I thought we were going to be able to respond and make a game of it in the second half, but we weren’t able to do that.”

The Cougars went into play averaging 36.3 points and 434 yards per game. Their previous low offensive output this season was 332 yards in the 27-3 win over Stanford on Sept. 6.

Both teams have home games remaining against UCF, while the Cougars also play at No. 25 Cincinnati — the only other Big 12 team with one league loss — after hosting TCU next week. The Red Raiders host UCF next week before an open date and then their regular-season finale at West Virginia.

The Red Raiders, charter members of the Big 12 in 1996, are in position to play in the conference championship for the first time. Their remaining two opponents are a combined 3-10 in conference play.

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