UPDATE (1:07 p.m.): ESPN's Joe Schad cites a source to give an explanation for the suspensions.
Ohio State players were suspended for marijuana and academics per source
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) July 30, 2015
A quartet of Ohio State football stars must wait a little longer than their teammates before joining them in the team's national title defense.
Joey Bosa, Dontre Wilson, Jalin Marshall and Corey Smith have been suspended for Ohio State’s season opener at Virginia Tech Sept. 7 for "violating Department of Athletics policy," the school announced Thursday.
Marshall, a redshirt sophomore, and Wilson, a junior, are two options for the Buckeyes at H-back, though Wilson missed the majority of the last two months of the 2014 season with a broken foot. He still, however, managed 1,064 yards of total offense and three receiving touchdowns before suffering the injury in the Michigan State game Nov. 8. Marshall became an integral part of Ohio State’s offense in its post-season run, finishing the year with 983 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns — scoring on the ground, through the air and on a punt return against Indiana.
Bosa was a unanimous All-American choice and the 2014 Big Ten Defensive Lineman and Player of the Year following a stellar sophomore campaign when he registered 55 tackles, including 21 for loss and 13.5 sacks. He, along with senior Adolphus Washington, were set to bookend a defensive line that lost two starters from the title team.
Smith snagged 20 passes for 255 yards in 14 games for the Buckeyes and was expected to take more of a role in the passing game after the departures of Evan Spencer and Devin Smith to the NFL.
The loss of Bosa on the defensive line will test Ohio State’s depth on the unit, one that head coach Urban Meyer was not happy with during spring drills.
The Buckeyes have a wide breadth of offensive playmakers, especially in the passing game, but much of it is largely unproven due to youth or injury. It, too, will be tested against a stingy Hokie defense that held the Buckeyes to just 327 yards of offense in its 35-21 victory last September.
