News broke today that Ohio State starting running back Carlos Hyde has been dismissed from the Ohio State football team for allegedly assaulting a woman at a Columbus bar. In addition, starting corner Bradley Roby has his spot on the Buckeye squad in doubt after being detained by bouncers a night club.
More trouble for Urban Meyer's players? As the NY Times reported earlier this month, Meyer had major issues with arrests during his tenure in Gainesville, with many of the arrests being very serious crimes. Now, in the same calendar month that Meyer had to field questions about Aaron Hernandez, he has to deal with two separate incidents on the same night in Columbus with two of his marquee players.
Not good news for a coach and a team that expects to repeat their unbeaten season from 2012 and have a shot at the BCS Title game next January.
Now at running back Ohio State will have to turn to RS Junior Rod Smith, who played 75 offensive snaps last year, and Bri'Onte Dunn, a sophomore with potential but only 133 career rushing yards.
If Roby is dismissed, that could be even more difficult for Ohio State to overcome than the loss of Hyde. Roby's experience is expected in the secondary to help offset the loss of Travis Howard. If Roby does not return, Adam Griffin and Doran Grant will be the only 2 corners with any real experience and will certainly hurt the Buckeyes depth at corner.
The Hyde loss though hurts for sure, as he came up just 30 yards shy of becoming Meyer's 1st 1,000 yard back ever. His presence as a runner was really going to help take some pressure off of Braxton Miller.
So I guess it's a good thing Meyer is used to winning without a top notch runner, as he won a national title one year without having a runner eclipse even 700 yards.
And it's also a good thing he's used to dealing with questions about legal issues when it comes to his players - because more are coming.
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