Ole Miss Transfer Cornerback Davison Igbinosun Loses Black Stripe With Buckeyes

Igbinosun, a 6-foot, 203-pound cornerback who committed to Ohio State on Jan. 31 after one year at Ole Miss, shed his black stripe after the Buckeyes' fifth spring practice on Saturday. He is the third Buckeye to add scarlet to his helmet this week after offensive linemen Tegra Tshabola and George Fitzpatrick lost their black stripes on Thursday.

its official. welcome to the brotherhood, @DaveIgbinosun#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/aBejSemgHh

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 26, 2023

Before he arrived at Ohio State, Igbinosun was a four-star recruit in the class of 2022. He will have three years of eligibility with the Buckeyes after an impressive freshman season at Ole Miss in which he started 10 games, made 37 total tackles and five pass breakups and was named an honorable mention Freshman All-American by College Football News.

This spring, Igbinosun is expected to compete with Jordan Hancock, Jyaire Brown and the rest of Ohio State’s cornerbacks to start opposite Denzel Burke in 2023. Regardless of who wins that competition, Igbinosun will provide crucial depth to Ohio State’s cornerback room, as Ryan Day, Jim Knowles and Tim Walton were set to have only six scholarship cornerbacks before his transfer.

“I think he wants to he wants to compete. So he's gonna, and he'll have of great opportunity,” Day said of Igbinosun in February. “When you go through eight weeks of an offseason program, it allows guys to build discipline and camaraderie and strength and a lot of things. But now it's time to go on a field. And without a great eight weeks of offseason, it's hard to have a good spring. But so many guys did. He came in, stepped in and did a nice job establishing himself early on. That's something that coming in from another program is not always easy to do. So he's done a good job of that. But it's gonna be a good competition.”

Igbinosun is the first Ohio State transfer to shed his black stripe. The Buckeyes' five other transfers – safety Ja'Had Carter (Syracuse), quarterback Tristan Gebbia (Oregon State), offensive lineman Victor Cutler (Louisianna-Lafeyette), long snapper John Ferlmann (Arizona State) and kicker Casey Magyar (Kent State) – will now look to follow suit.

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate also added scarlet to his helmet on Saturday, becoming the first of 12 early enrollees and 20 true freshmen in the class of 2023 to shed his black stripe as a member of the program.