Overpaid players ruled ineligible

Five Ohio State football players were paid by a Cleveland-area booster for work they did not do, and as a result, three of the five players are suspended from Saturday's game at Nebraska.

OSU athletic director Gene Smith announced Monday that senior wide receiver DeVier Posey, senior running back Dan Herron and offensive lineman Marcus Hall will be suspended for Saturday's game at Nebraska as part of the NCAA's investigation of the program.

Melvin Fellows and Etienne Sabino were also involved, though Fellows is no longer playing due to a career-ending injury and Sabino has already been reinstated.

The employment violation involves the wages the players were paid relative to the hours they worked under Robert DiGeronimo.

DiGeronimo is a former booster from Independence, Ohio. The university sent a letter of disassociation to DiGeronimo on Sept. 20.

"Bobby DiGeronimo has been disassociated from the institution," Smith said. "Publicly it's looked at as taken so long (to disassociate him), but there is a process of procedures and a strategy."

DiGeronimo is the same Cleveland-area booster who paid junior running back Jordan Hall, junior defensive back Travis Howard and sophomore defensive back Corey Brown at a charitable event in February.

DiGeronimo did respond to phone calls for comment from The Lantern.

In an interview with The Columbus Dispatch, DiGeronimo said he felt he did nothing wrong.

"There were no irregularities," he told the Dispatch. "The hours they were paid were the hours they worked."

Smith said Posey, Herron and Marcus Hall would be suspended for the Nebraska game on Saturday, and further suspensions have not been ruled out.

"The dollar amount for each student athletes determines the penalty that will ultimately be levied by the NCAA," Smith said.

According to documents provided by OSU, Herron was overpaid $292.50. He was paid for 104 hours of work, even though he only worked 84.5 hours.

Posey was overpaid by $720, being paid for 70 hours of work, despite actually working only 21.5 hours.

Posey also received $102 in impermissible benefits for a round of golf.

Posey and Herron were originally suspended the first five games of the season and were scheduled to be reinstated for Saturday's game at Nebraska.

Marcus Hall was overpaid by $225. He was paid for 66.5 hours of work, despite only working 51 hours.

Sabino received $60 extra compensation, being paid for 16 hours of work despite actually working only 12 hours. He will play Saturday as long as he pays the money back first.

Fellows was overpaid by $292.50. He was paid for 82.5 hours, though he only actually worked 61 hours.

Requests for comment from Posey and Herron were declined.

Jerry Emig, the associate director of athletics communication, said the athletic department is not making athletes available for comment.

When Jordan Hall, Howard and Brown were suspended for taking $200 from DiGeronimo. They each received a two-game suspension. All of the players in Monday's allegation, with the exception of Sabino, received more than $200 in impermissible benefits.

The documentation provided by OSU notes that the players did not know they were being overpaid by DiGeronimo, but "none knew their hourly wage or the number of hours for which they were paid."

Smith said the investigation was a collaborative effort between the university and the NCAA.

"At this point in time we are going through the restoration committee for reinstatement," Smith said. "We are fortunate and optimistic that when we move forward with our broader case that there is no additional allegations to share."

The reinstatement process is ongoing, Smith said.

"The NCAA has done a very thorough job of evaluating our systems, our procedures, our policies and our structural education," Smith said. "We will have to wait and find out from the reinstatement staff the magnitude of the penalties."

Smith said he does not expect charges of "failure to monitor" or a "lack of institutional control."

"These failures are individual failures, failures of individual athletes," Smith said. "And as you know, unfortunately, a previous coach, and a booster."

Smith said the university can use this as an example of what not to do, and learn from it.

"Were there lessons learned by us? No question," Smith said. "Will we be able to improve our education and monitoring? No question. At the end of the day, individual decisions were made that went off the reservation."

Smith said that as athletic director of the university, he is responsible for the new allegations.

"I am held accountable," Smith said. "That's why I'm sitting here today. We need to constantly work collaboratively with the NCAA."

Cameron Dahlin, a first-year in business, said that without these players, OSU does not stand a chance against Nebraska.