First-year Ohio State coach Urban Meyer welcomed back suspended LT Jack Mewhort and TE Jake Stoneburner to practice on Monday following a violation of team rules this offseason. Both upperclassmen were projected starters before the suspensions but still maintained their positions atop the depth chart at Monday’s practice.
“I don’t know them that well because [I’ve only been here a few months],” Meyer said to Ozone.net “but they’re great students.”
“Not good students, great students. They’re on my leadership committee and I think the word I would use there is ‘stupid,’’’ Meyer added, referring to the incident where both were caught urinating on a building. After police spotted them, they allegedly ran to avoid the confrontation.
“So are they less stupid now? I don’t know,” Meyer said. “Right now we’re going to do the best we can to help them be less stupid. If there was a bad guy situation, they wouldn’t be playing.”
The two had their athletic scholarships removed for the summer meaning that they couldn’t participate in team activities. In terms of football punishments, they had to do running and conditioning with the freshmen in order to work their way into good standing. Meyer plans to return their football scholarships in the fall.
Stoneburner is one of the best returning tight ends in the conference and last season he was one of Braxton Miller’s favorite redzone targets . He hauled in seven touchdowns on just 14 catches. With the new spread offense Meyer will be implementing this preseason, Stoneburner’s blocking will be a huge asset should Miller decide to roll out of the pocket.
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