The Ohio State Buckeyes fell behind early against the Akron Zips on Saturday night in Columbus, but then, things went more or less how you’d expect. Ohio State, despite playing without starting quarterback C.J. Stroud, started pouring it on, taking a 38-7 lead into a locker room at the half against their foes from the MAC.
There was, however, one pretty big way in which this game was unusual. According to reports from the stadium, senior Buckeyes linebacker K’Vaughn Pope appeared to end his tenure with the program in the middle of the game.
I think K’Vaughan Pope just quit the team in the middle of the game.
— Austin Ward (@AWardSports) September 26, 2021
Apparently, Pope was unhappy with a decision made by Ohio State’s coaching staff, which led to him getting into it with people on the sideline and, eventually, being escorted to the locker room.
Pope tried to run out on the field in a sub package. Teradja Mitchell waved him off, and Pope stormed down the sideline, started walking to the tunnel and then had to be coaxed back by an Ohio State staffer. He tossed his gloves into the stands and took off his jersey.
— Austin Ward (@AWardSports) September 26, 2021
He has now been told to leave the Ohio State sideline and C.J. Barnett is taking him to the locker room. This is absolutely wild.
— Austin Ward (@AWardSports) September 26, 2021
Perhaps this was simply a player wanting to cool off after a fracas on the sideline, but apparently, Pope went to the locker room, grabbed his phone, and started tweeting. In one post, he wished the rest of his teammates luck, and in a tweet that has since been deleted, he had a pretty stern message for his school.
good lucc to my teammates
— K’Vaughan Pope (@VonP04) September 26, 2021
looks like he deleted pic.twitter.com/6aPpEfj2Fe
— the ivermectin marxist (substack in bio) (@lib_crusher) September 26, 2021
Pope was a four-star recruit in the class of 2018, and had recored 19 tackles during his career as a Buckeye.