Tag: K’Vaughan Pope

Former Ohio State linebacker K’Vaughan Pope commits to Tennessee State and Eddie George

K’Vaughan Pope finds a new landing spot with a former Buckeye great.

Ohio State linebacker, K’Vaughan Pope quit the Buckeye football team in dramatic fashion this past season when he was seen storming off the field in the middle of the Akron game. Pope fired off some tweets, was dismissed from the team, later apologized for his behavior, and eventually entered the transfer portal.

We now know where Pope will land. The former four-star linebacker has committed to Eddie George and Tennessee State. Pope announced the news on her personal Twitter account.

Tennessee State is an FCS and HBCU (Historically Black College and University). The Tigers also boast other former Buckeyes on the coaching staff in Richard McNutt, Pepe Pearson, and Mike Brewster.

While at Ohio State, Pope accumulated 19 total tackles and two interceptions in limited playing time. He will have two years of eligibility left to give to the Tigers.

How things went down with OSU and Pope was a bizarre turn of events, the likes of which we’ve not seen before. But it was also a young man who let his emotions get the best of him. He realized the poor judgment in how the situation was handled and made amends for his actions. We’re hoping a change of scenery and some veteran leadership from a Buckeye legend will be just what Pope needs to get back on track.

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Linebacker K’Vaughan Pope now in transfer portal

I guess this is really no surprise. Tell us where you hope Pope lands. We wish him nothing but good things.

This is probably not going to come as much surprise to anyone, but senior Ohio State linebacker K’Vaughan Pope has entered the transfer portal.

Pope was involved in a truly bizarre scene on Saturday night when he had a heated exchange with some of the players and coaches before running off the field and back to the locker room late in the second quarter against Akron. He then proceeded to angry-tweet the OSU program, then wish his teammates luck (or lucc if you will), never coming back into the game.

Head coach Ryan Day was asked about the incident directly after the 59-7 win but declined to say much about it at the time. The following day, Day then issued a statement informing the media that Pope had been dismissed from the team.

Pope has since sent out an apology on social media and is now in the transfer portal where he will look to find somewhere to continue his college football career. As soon as we get any information on where that might be, we will have more information.

K’Vaughan Pope issues statement after being released from Ohio State football team

K’Vaughan Pope responds to the incident Saturday night and his dismissal from the team.

A bizarre and mysterious scene broke out during Ohio State’s dominating win over Akron on Saturday night. Senior linebacker K’Vaughan Pope got into an emotional exchange between some of the coaches and players and proceeded to run off the field and back into the OSU locker room. From there, he sent a couple of tweets during the game, one of them very angry in nature.

Of course, we don’t know what has gone on behind the scenes for Pope through his time at Ohio State, but he had apparently had enough, and the frustrations of not getting on the field as much as he would have liked must have boiled over.

Head coach Ryan Day didn’t add much color to the situation yesterday directly after the game, but he issued a statement on Sunday notifying everyone that Pope had been dismissed from the team.

To Pope’s credit, he took the news and dismissal well, issuing a statement of apology on his Twitter account that seemed sincere and contrite.

“Last night I let my emotions get the best of me,” wrote Pope. “For that I want to apologize to my teammates, coaches and Buckeye Nation. I made a mistake and know that I need to be better and do better. I’m going to take this time to reflect and work on my mental well-being.”

We don’t know what the future holds for Pope, we certainly wish him well down the line in whatever path he takes. Kids make mistakes and must live up to them, but it doesn’t mean they can’t learn and come back from them even better than before.

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K’Vaughan Pope dismissed from Ohio State football team

Ohio State senior linebacker K’Vauhan Pope has been dismissed from the Ohio State football team because of his actions Saturday night.

You had to believe this was coming, but we have confirmation that Ohio State linebacker K’Vaughan Pope has been dismissed from the football team. The news came as a result of a statement from Ryan Day through an Ohio State spokesman.

“Senior linebacker K’Vaughan Pope has been dismissed from the Ohio State football team,” Day said in a statement. “K’Vaughan will continue to have the use of programs that benefit our student-athletes, such as our Student-Athlete Support Services Office, and we will support him with his progress toward graduation. He will remain on scholarship through the duration of this semester.”

Pope’s dismissal comes after he got into a heated exchange between some of the players and coaches late in the second quarter of the game against Akron Saturday. He then ran off of the field and into the OSU locker room where he angry tweeted an expletive towards the program.

Day refused to provide too many details about the incident directly after the game, but we now know that Pope has played his last snap in a scarlet and gray uniform.

If anything further comes to light about the situation revolving around the incident, we’ll bring it to you. This, in combination with Dallas Gant entering the transfer portal last week, cuts into the depth at the linebacker position, one in which Ohio State could sorely need a few players to step up.

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Ryan Day responds to bizarre K’Vaughan Pope incident

We got our first comments and reaction from Ryan Day on the bizarre K’Vaughan Pope incident. #GoBucks

We were all waiting for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day to comment on the truly bizarre incident that transpired during the second quarter of the game vs. Akron, and we did get a little reaction from him. Probably not as much detail that everyone wants right now, but it was at least something. I’m sure there will be more later.

To bring you up to speed, OSU linebacker K’Vaughan Pope left the game just before the first half ended after an emotional incident with some of the coaches and players. He then proceeded to angry tweet at the program, seemingly quitting the team in the middle of the game.

Of course, the very first question Day was asked was not about the game itself, but that moment that seemingly everyone was talking about during and after the game. His initial response was pretty boilerplate and standard as expected.

“Someone just kind of told me I guess there was something with a tweet or something,” Day said. “I’m going to kind of get the details of everything that happened before I say anything there.”

However, Day was then pressed further to dig a little deeper into what’s happening with the linebacker group. Not only did Pope sound off in the middle of a game, but the team also seems to be in the midst of losing veteran linebacker Dallas Gant to the transfer portal earlier this week.

Day seemed to shrug it off to it being a product of today’s environment more than losing guys in the locker room.

“In today’s day and age, guys can leave with four games because they can redshirt, and then if they want to go into the portal, that’s their prerogative,” Day continued. “I have a hard time with that because I think when you make a commitment to a team at the beginning of the year, when you make a commitment to the Ohio State Buckeyes, that’s what you do. One of the hard things is that you have to play certain guys, and you have to make some decisions on who’s playing in those games and you just really count on guys to be great teammates if they’re not getting on the field … What it really is, is that guys want to play and you can’t play everyone. And then frustration kicks in.”

That’s not a calling out of anyone by name, but it sure does speak to the challenges of having players that have more ability to leave programs in today’s day and age. There are some really good things happening with looking out for today’s college athletes, but these are all things that coaches didn’t have to deal with as much just a couple of years ago.

We still don’t have any official word on Pope, but when we do, we’ll be sure to jump on it. It’ll be interesting to see if we see more of these types of power struggles as players begin to exert their independence with NIL legislation, the one-time transfer rule, and more.

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Ohio State LB K’Vaughan Pope stormed off the field in the middle of game versus Akron

K’Vaughan Pope’s Ohio State career is in jeopardy.

Now this is a situation you don’t often see in football.

On Saturday, during Ohio State’s game against Akron, the Buckeyes had an interesting situation unfold late in the first half. Linebacker K’Vaughan Pope was seen leaving the field after a heated argument with his coaches on the sideline.

According to Austin Ward, Buckeyes reporter for Lettermen Row, Pope stormed to the locker room after being waived off the field before entering the game as a substitute. Upon leaving the field, Pope reportedly tossed his gloves into the stands and tried to take off his jersey.

Pope was eventually escorted to the Ohio State locker room, as it seemed like his night was over with the Buckeyes headed into the half up 38-7.

The story doesn’t stop there, however! After exiting the game and getting to the locker room, Pope tweeted twice. His first tweet was to wish his Ohio State teammates well. The second? A now-deleted NSFW tweet cursing out the school.

In two games this season for Ohio State, Pope has three tackles and a broken up pass. Previously, Pope’s best season with the Buckeyes was in 2019 when he had 13 tackles and two interceptions.

We’ll see if Pope’s career with Ohio State has officially ended after Saturday’s incident. In an up and down season already filled with questions for this Buckeyes team, add this moment to the list.

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Ohio State LB K’Vaughan Pope launches social media blast during game after on-field incident

Ohio State’s K’Vaughan Pope had an escort to the locker room after a sideline incident

Ohio State senior linebacker K’Vaughan Pope made quite the exit from Saturday’s game between the Buckeyes and Akron at Ohio Stadium.

Multiple reports indicate Pope tried to run onto the field during an Akron drive in the second quarter but was waved off by teammate Teradja Mitchell.

That apparently set off Pope, who started walking down the sideline toward the locker room.

Play continued and somehow a director of player development C.J. Barnett got to Pope in the end zone and helped re-direct him to the sidelines.

That only made things worse.

Per elevenwarriors.com:

Pope took his helmet off and appeared to have a heated verbal exchange with linebacker coach Al Washington before taking off his gloves and throwing them into the crowd. Team captain Kamryn Babb was among a contingent of Buckeye players that attempted to calm Pope down, but the fourth-year defender eventually walked to the locker room with Barnett by his side.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day somehow was alerted to this and Pope was led to the locker room while the game was ongoing.

Once there, he blasted Ohio State in a tweet using NSFW language. The tweet was eventually deleted.

Pope saw minimal action with the Buckeyes in 2021.

Per his Buckeyes bio:

• Has played in 31 career games and been a key contributor on special teams
• Among his two tackles last season (2020) was 1.5 tackles for loss – for minus seven yards – and one quarterback hurry
• Recorded interceptions in back to back games versus Maryland and Rutgers in 2019
• Contributed 13 total tackles (six solo, seven assisted) and two pass breakups
• Had six tackles (two solo, four assisted) and one INT at Rutgers.
• Played in 11 of 14 games for the Big Ten and Rose Bowl champion Buckeyes as a true freshman, primarily on special teams
• Is exploring majors in management & industry

Ohio State linebacker K’Vaughan Pope apparently quits team, angry tweets in middle of game against Akron

Welp. Nothing like putting a bizarre twist on a good showing from Ohio State. #GoBucks

Ohio State is currently taking the Akron Zips behind the woodshed in Columbus, Ohio, but in the midst of it, there was a bizarre scene that played out involving Buckeye linebacker K’Vaughan Pope.

Pope was attempting to come onto the field during a play and seemed to be waived off by captain and fellow linebacker Teradja Mitchell. That, apparently, did not sit well with Pope. He immediately became animated on the sidelines, had a heated exchange with a couple of coaches and teammates, then went into the locker room with C.J. Barnett.

There has been no confirmation from Ohio State as the game goes on, but we’re sure it’ll be addressed in the postgame press conference. Pope seemed to address it himself by tweeting out good luck to his teammates after he left the field, and then had some choice words for the program (think of your favorite four-letter word, but misspelled) before deleting it.

Losing another linebacker isn’t ideal at all for the Buckeyes. Earlier this week the program had veteran Dallas Gant enter the transfer portal, and now this. We simply see no way that Pope comes back to the team — if he would even be allowed back by the coaching staff — after such an incident.

We’ll obviously have more about this when we get official word from Ohio State.

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