Former OSU defensive back Marcus Williamson had accused Meyer and OSU of using a picture of Trayvon Martin in a team meeting to in 2017. Meyer denied the allegations.
“Our team rule was no hats or hoodies or sunglasses of any kind but only in team meetings, just so we could see their eyes and make sure they were paying attention and not asleep,” Meyer said, per Snook. “We did not, and never would show a picture of Trayvon Martin. My gosh, no. That is absolutely false and you can check with any other player on my teams during that time to confirm what I am saying. Other players know what he is saying is false. I would never do that. He is crossing the line here. It seems people are just piling on now. But that never happened.”
Meyer later backtracked on his statement and said the picture was in fact used but denied he was aware of it. “Picture was, in fact, used to try to help enforce a no hoodies rule at Ohio State” said Meyer.
Meyer insists the picture was not done under his orders and was done by a support staffer who was in the wrong and ” truly uneducated” on the situation but later apologized and the players accepted it.
Former OSU safety Tyvis Powell later took to Twitter after gaining more information on the incident and was told a photo of Martin was shared during a freshman meeting. The person who shared the photo via a PowerPoint presentation later issued an apology after it was pointed out as offensive to him. He did not know the background story of Martin, per Powell.
Marlon Williamson, the father of former Ohio State player Marcus Williamson, defended his son on Twitter on Tuesday after he received backlash for tweeting out about Meyer.
“Some former OSU football players have expressed that they didn’t experience racism at OSU but every athlete doesn’t have the same experiences,” he said in the Tweet. “Admittedly, I wasn’t in the locker room and didn’t attend a ton of practices, but I trust my son and acknowledge the challenges he’s faced as a student athlete.”
