Ohio Lawmaker Wants 2010 Ohio State ‘Tattoogate’ Wins Reinstated Amid NIL Rule

In 2011, the NCAA vacated wins from the 2010 Ohio State football team as a punishment for players selling championship rings, awards and gear in exchange for money and tattoos.

Now, an Ohio lawmaker wants those wins back.

Rep. Brian Stewart, a republican and Ohio State graduate, is sponsoring a resolution that would reinstate all of Ohio State’s wins from the 2010 football season.

Stewart said this scandal would never happen now since the NCAA passed it’s new Name, Image and Likeness rule.

“This resolution does not say anything about the sanctions,” Stewart said, via Mary Jane Sanese of The Columbus Dispatch. “This resolution says enough is enough. The NCAA’s view of what is permissible for players has changed drastically in the last twelve years.”

Stewart also explained, if Penn State could get its vacated wins restored, so should Ohio State. However, the NCAA said last summer it will not restore any vacated wins in light of the new rule.

The 2010 Ohio State football team was a strong one, finishing 11–1 with a Sugar Bowl invite. However, star quarterback Terrelle Pryor, WR DeVier Posey, OL Mike Adams, DL Solomon Thomas, and RB Daniel Herron were punished for receiving “improper benefits” from a tattoo parlor owner that December. The NCAA allowed those five players to play in the Sugar Bowl, a game Ohio State won, before deciding to vacate those wins the following summer.

Pryor didn’t play for Ohio State again, leaving the school for the NFL’s supplemental draft in August. After the NCAA passed its NIL rule last summer, Pryor, along with his four former teammates also involved, publicly called for the NCAA to reinstate all wins and records associated with that 2010 team.