The “Tattoo Five” want their wins back.
With the NCAA now allowing all college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, Terrelle Pryor, DeVier Posey, Boom Herron Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas are calling for their legacies to be restored.
The "Tattoo 5" – as they call themselves – penned an open letter to the NCAA calling for the wins, records and legacy of the 2010 Ohio State football season to be restored.
"Although this could never undo what we and our families endured for breaking rules that shouldn't have existed in the first place, we believe reinstating and acknowledging the accomplishments of ourselves and our teammates would be a huge step in the right direction," the letter says.
The time has come @NCAA @OSU_AD @OhioStAthletics @Channel75live @DPo8 @BOOMHERRON1 #solomonThomas @AdamSchefter we should get our wins back records back and legacy of @JimTressel5 back and not looked past it! NCAA suspended us but let us play in the sugar bowl win vs Arkansas pic.twitter.com/pGpEvJCbx5
— Terrelle Pryor SR (@TerrellePryor) July 13, 2021
The NCAA, of course, vacated all of Ohio State's wins from the 2010 season after the five players were found to have traded memorabilia for tattoos.
"The 2010 Ohio State football team earned a 12-1 record, won a Big Ten Championship, won a Sugar Bowl, produced a top-5 all-time passer (Terrelle Pryor), a top-5 career all-time receiver (DeVier Posey), a top-10 all-time rusher (Daniel "Boom" Herron), and an All-American (Mike Adams) all for it to be wiped unceremoniously from the record books," the letter says.
"We are calling for our school records and legacy to be restored so that Buckeye Nation can look at us with the same love and fondness we've always had for them."
It's worth noting that it is still against Ohio State's NIL rules and regulations to trade team-issued gear and memorabilia, though the NCAA hasn't set its own guidelines yet so it's unclear what the rules will be going forward.
