Ohio State Players Jake Stoneburner, Jack Mewhort Lose Scholarships

Ohio State football players Jake Stoneburner and Jack Mewhort have lost their scholarships for the summer,  meaning they will pay their own way for summer school and will have a chance to return to the football team after the summer season has ended.

From the Plain Dealer:

"Meyer had announced on June 4 that they were suspended indefinitely. Stoneburner, a senior tight end, and Mewhort, a junior left tackle, are both key starters for the OSU offense.

"We are disappointed with the decisions made recently by two of our football players," Meyer said in the statement Friday. "Jake Stoneburner and Jack Mewhort will each be removed from athletic scholarship beginning with the summer term, and they will continue to be suspended from team activities until stipulations are successfully met. They will have an opportunity to return to the team in good standing following the summer session.""

According to Ohio State, both Stoneburner and Mewhort will be allowed to work out at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, but they will not be working out with any other Buckeyes. Stoneburner, for one, talked after spring football about looking forward to throwing often with quarterback Braxton Miller this summer. Now that won't happen, at least at the WHAC.

The players initially entered not guilty pleas for their scheduled arraignments this past Monday. The Delaware Municipal Court website now shows those guilty pleas to disorderly conduct, with the status of the cases indicating that they are finished. Both players are listed as owing $299 in fines and court costs.

Keep it at Inside The Shoe for the latest news, updates and opinions on Ohio State athletics

Ohio State Moving To Semesters In 2012-2013

Will the move to semesters change anything?

Ohio State has always had something that people called an advantage, whether or not if it's true. That so-called advantage was football without class during the early games of September. 

Now, with the arrival of the semester system for the 2012-13 school year, means that when the Buckeyes take the field against Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 1, they'll do it as full-time students with eight days of class under their belts, not three-week, football-only, mercenaries.

Here's the in-depth report from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"Under the former quarter system, Ohio State classes didn't begin until late September (last year it was on Sept. 21) meaning the Buckeyes always played three, sometimes four, games before taking a single class. That didn't change the NCAA rule on the 20 hours each week coaches can mandate from athletes. But it left a lot of free time for players to make the Woody Hayes Athletic Center their homes.

Extra film study. Extra conditioning. Extra hours with the playbook. Time for the freshmen to figure out big-time football before figuring out where English 110 meets. After working out all summer and going through preseason practice, the Buckeyes then were able to focus on football for 25 percent of the schedule.

It was an edge for Ohio State. But did the Buckeyes win more games because of it? Probably not.

In the last 10 years, Ohio State was 26-4 during its first three games of the season, losing at the Miami Hurricanes last season, to USC in 2008 and 2009 and to Texas in 2005. Considering 20 of those games were supposed to be home game walkovers, going 6-4 in the 10 national matchups that were designed to be competitive isn't the sign of a obvious advantage. The Buckeyes also had close calls against Toledo last year, Navy in 2009, Ohio in 2008, Marshall in 2004 and North Carolina State in 2003.

This season, when Ohio State plays its big nonconference game against California on Sept. 15, the Buckeyes actually will have started class one day earlier than the Golden Bears. See if you notice the difference."