Bill would make flag planting at Ohio St. a felony
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
If an Ohio lawmaker gets his way, teams attempting to plant their flags in the middle of Ohio Stadium during Ohio State games will be dealing with more than just pepper spray.
Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams introduced a bill Tuesday that would classify flag planting at Ohio Stadium around Buckeyes football games as a felony.
The O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act, authored by Williams, comes in response to Michigan‘s attempt to plant its flag after a Nov. 30 win at Ohio State, which set off a brawl between the teams. Police employed pepper spray to separate players and other team personnel. Ohio State University police are investigating the incident, which involved multiple law enforcement agencies and resulted in an injury to an officer.
According to Williams’ bill, “No person shall plant a flagpole with a flag attached to it in the center of the football field at Ohio stadium of the Ohio State University on the day of a college football competition, whether before, during, or after the competition. Whoever violates this section is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree.”
A fifth-degree felony is the least severe in Ohio and carries a penalty of six to 12 months in prison, up to a $2,500 fine and up to five years’ probation.
Williams, a Republican, represents Ohio’s 41st district, near Toledo and the Ohio-Michigan border, where many Buckeyes and Wolverines fans intermingle. He told ESPN that the Ohio Stadium incident, along with several other college football scuffles around flag planting during rivalry weekend, caught his attention.
“After it happened at five separate games during Rivalry Week, and seeing that there was no immediate movement, I thought it was necessary to send a signal to our institutions of higher learning that they need to come up with policies to prevent this in the future so it doesn’t risk harm to our law enforcement officers or student-athletes or fans,” Williams told ESPN. “[Ohio State-Michigan] is the No. 1 rivalry in all of sports, not just college sports, and to see it devolve all the way down to this level, it just disrespects not only the institution, but the college programs themselves. More importantly, it provided a true safety hazard.”
Ohio’s two-year General Assembly closes next week, so the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act likely will need to be reintroduced in the next cycle. Williams plans to do that if he doesn’t see further steps from the Big Ten, NCAA or individual schools to curb flag planting, describing the bill as “a shot across the bow, putting our institutions on notice.”
NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN’s Dan Murphy that there have been conversations in committees and by conferences about flag planting.
“I think the conferences are pretty serious, and so are the schools about taking a look at how they might create a more aggressive approach to dealing with that,” Baker said Wednesday.
The Big Ten issued $100,000 fines to both Ohio State and Michigan following the incident, but no other individual discipline has been specified. In reference to the fines, Williams said: “That’s pennies, that’s nothing.”
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore also mimicked flag planting while appearing on the videoboard at the school’s men’s basketball game Saturday at home against Iowa as the crowd roared.
“That indicates that that institution is not taking this incident seriously,” Williams said. “We’re bragging about it, and it’s going to continue in the future, and that’s going to cause increased risk, increased security costs and potential for violence, as a result of a college football game.”
Baker told Murphy that the safety of athletes is a major priority for the NCAA, which wants to have policies that discourage such incidents in the championships it oversees, adding that he hoped the rules would be similar across the board.
Williams said a criminal penalty was needed because those who travel across state lines and violate university policies likely would avoid any significant repercussions. Williams, who said he coached youth sports for 15 years, is a strong advocate of sportsmanship and noted that the bill would apply to Ohio State players planting flags after home games.
Williams earned his law degree from the University of Toledo. He described himself as “a Buckeye, through and through,” while adding that his family has a mix of Ohio State and Michigan fans.
“We have a great rivalry. I enjoy the rivalry, win, lose or draw,” Williams said. “That was a tight game. It wasn’t a blowout victory. You know, Michigan should have taken its victory, and we take our loss on the chin and live to fight another day, concentrate on the next week and the next year, the next recruitment period. But instead, we have to have this conversation.”
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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
Michigan Wolverines junior cornerback Will Johnson has declared for the NFL draft, he announced on social media Wednesday.
Johnson is the No. 2 prospect in ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper’s latest Big Board rankings.
Johnson played in only six games this year because of a foot injury but still returned interceptions for touchdowns in wins over Fresno State and USC.
Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham also declared for the draft this week. He’s projected to be a high first-round pick as well.
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Pete Thamel
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Chris Low
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Chris Low
ESPN Senior Writer
- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee
North Carolina is working to close a deal with Bill Belichick to make the six-time Super Bowl champion the Tar Heels’ coach, but sources told ESPN there are still issues that both sides need to work through.
Sources added that the “ball is in Belichick’s court” and that North Carolina officials are on board with him becoming the coach. A resolution is expected in the near future, sources said.
Among the issues are the potential role for his son and current Washington defensive coordinator Stephen Belichick; North Carolina’s name, image and likeness resources; Belichick’s salary, and resources for the staff and reporting structure.
Talks between North Carolina and Belichick have been ongoing since at least last week, sources said. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Belichick met with North Carolina officials for five hours Sunday.
Belichick was typically coy about the situation in an interview on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday afternoon. He confirmed to McAfee that he had a “couple of good conversations” with North Carolina chancellor Lee Roberts and said, “We’ll see how that goes.” He concluded the interview by saying about the UNC job: “We’ll see. We’ll see.”
The hiring of Belichick, 72, would resonate as one of the most stunning and compelling moves in college football history. He worked in the NFL in some capacity from 1975 until his divorce from the New England Patriots after the 2023 season.
The NCAA transfer portal opened Monday, which leaves the Tar Heels’ roster potentially in flux. Belichick spoke in hypotheticals about what his college program could look like with McAfee, stressing “if” he took a college job. He observed that modern college football looks a lot more like the NFL.
“If I was in a college program, the college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that had the ability to play in the NFL,” Belichick said. “It would be a professional program: training, nutrition, scheme, coaching and techniques that would transfer to the NFL.”
He concluded a lengthy portrait of what the program would look like by saying: “It would be an NFL program, but not at the NFL level.”
Belichick has never coached at the college level but grew up on college campuses, including his father spending three years as a North Carolina assistant coach. Sources told ESPN that Belichick’s interest in the job has always been sincere and that he has strong desire to return to the sideline.
He has been calling potential staff members for days, and representatives from UNC’s collective have hypothetically discussed players’ potential interest in anticipation of Belichick taking the job. Belichick’s exploration has included a dive on nearly every aspect of college coaching and how it would look.
Other names that have emerged in North Carolina’s search include veteran NFL coach Steve Wilks, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, Army coach Jeff Monken, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and Cleveland Browns tight ends coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. Smith indicated he would stay with the Steelers, and Tulane reached an agreement in principle with Sumrall for a contract extension.
The UNC search has been scattered, sources said, with uncertainty in the industry about who is running it. Board of trustees chair John P. Preyer has been a key Belichick advocate throughout the process and has galvanized a group at the school behind Belichick’s potential hire.
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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza is entering the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on social media Wednesday.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound redshirt sophomore is expected to be one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the portal. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Mendoza addressed his decision in a post on X, writing, “for the sake of my football future this is the decision I have reached,” and thanking his teammates and coaches, among others.
— Fernando Mendoza (@qb_fernando) December 11, 2024
Miami is expected to be in the market for a transfer quarterback after Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward moves on to the NFL, but Mendoza also has ties to Indiana. His younger brother, Alberto, is a freshman backup quarterback for the Hoosiers. Indiana is also expected to bring in a transfer as the successor to senior starter Kurtis Rourke.
Mendoza was the third-leading passer in the ACC this season with 3,004 passing yards on 68.7% passing, 18 total touchdowns and 6 interceptions over 11 games. He has made 19 starts over the past two seasons.
The Miami native was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2022 and initially committed to play in the Ivy League at Yale before Cal extended a late offer. Mendoza redshirted during his first season in the program and has developed into one of the top young passers in college football.
This season, Mendoza threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 road win at Auburn and put up 285 passing yards and two touchdown passes in a 39-38 loss to then-No. 8 Miami. In his final game with the Bears, he led a 98-yard, game-winning touchdown drive in a 24-21 victory over rival Stanford.
Cal went 6-6 in its first season as a member of the ACC and will face No. 24 UNLV in the Art of Sport LA Bowl on Dec. 18.
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