Ohio State football players Jake Stoneburner and Jack Mewhort, who pleaded guilty yesterday after running from police earlier this month, have been removed from scholarship for the summer term but will have the opportunity to return to the team before the season, coach Urban Meyer said.
Meyer announced the punishment last night, hours after Stoneburner, a tight end from Dublin, and Mewhort, an offensive lineman from Toledo, resolved their legal dispute by pleading guilty to a reduced charge and being fined in Delaware Municipal Court.
The two had already been under suspension pending the outcome of the case.
“They will continue to be suspended from team activities until stipulations are successfully met,” Meyer said in a statement. “They will have an opportunity to return to the team in good standing following the summer session.”
The stipulations will be private between the players and Meyer, a team spokesman said. Although the players will be allowed to work out at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, they cannot do so with teammates. Being off scholarship, they will have to pay their own way through summer school.
Stoneburner, 22, and Mewhort, 21, were arrested after an incident on June 2 in which they ran from police in Shawnee Hills. They were leaving the Bogey Inn at 2 a.m. along with a man who is not part of the team, and they reportedly were walking back to Stoneburner’s family home off the fifth hole at Muirfield Village Golf Club on the weekend of the Memorial Tournament.
Police noticed that the three appeared to be urinating against the side of a building. The three ran when approached by an officer but eventually surrendered.
All three were originally charged with obstructing official business, a misdemeanor. Stoneburner and Mewhort, along with the third man — Austin Barnard, 21, of Dublin — agreed yesterday to plead guilty to disorderly conduct, according to court records. Including court costs, each will have to pay $299.
A second charge of disorderly conduct against Stoneburner was dropped as part of the agreement.
Stoneburner was one of the Buckeyes’ leading receivers last season. He will be a senior next season. Mewhort, a junior, switched from right guard to left tackle during the offseason as part of the changes in Meyer’s first year. Both are expected to be major contributors in the fall.
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