On Wednesday, linebacker K’Vaughan Pope and cornerback Cameron Brown became the latest Ohio State freshmen to have their black stripes removed.
Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said on Monday that he wasn’t sure how much any of his freshman linebackers would play this season, but all three now have their black stripes removed.
Dallas Gant was the first on August 8, and he was followed one day later by Teradja Mitchell. Now with Pope’s stripe gone, all three are official members of the Ohio State football team.
Brown is now also the third-and-final freshman cornerback to have his stripe removed.
Tyreke Johnson had his stripe removed on August 20, and then one week later Sevyn Banks lost his stripe. Both Johnson and Banks had an advantage over Brown in that they enrolled early and Brown didn’t arrive until this summer.
In the video below, Ryan Stamper says that Brown still has a ways to go, but he is hungry to get better.
K’Vaughan Pope
⬛️? Congrats to @ThePope81 on getting that black stripe off‼️ Welcome to #LBU‼️
#GoBucks #WinTheMoment pic.twitter.com/2TSe47qNxZ
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 30, 2018
Cameron Brown
⬛️? That's a #BIABlackStripe for @luh_cam_ ! Welcome to the #DBU family ‼️#GoBucks #WinTheMoment pic.twitter.com/lhgLbGgrV5
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 30, 2018
There are now 11 members of the 2018 recruiting class still holding onto their black stripes.
They are QB Matthew Baldwin*, WR Kamryn Babb (inj.), HB Jaelen Gill, SAF Marcus Hooker, DT Antwuan Jackson*, C Matthew Jones*, OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, SAF Josh Proctor, WR Blue Smith, DE Alex Williams, and OT Max Wray*.
* signifies early enrollee
Black Stripe Chart
March 30 – DL Aaron Cox (walk-on)
March 30 – WR De’Shawn White (walk-on)
April 11 – DT Tommy Togiai
August 8 – LB Dallas Gant
August 9 – TE Tate Duarte (walk-on)
August 9 – LB Teradja Mitchell
August 11 – RB Brian Snead
August 11 – QB Kory Curtis (walk-on)
August 11 – DT Taron Vincent
August 13 – WR Chris Olave
August 15 – RB Amari McMahon (walk-on)
August 18 – DE Tyreke Smith
August 18 – RB Master Teague
August 18 – TE Jeremy Ruckert
August 20 – CB Tyreke Johnson
August 27 – DE Tyler Friday
August 27 – CB Sevyn Banks
August 27 – DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste
August 29 – LB K’Vaughan Pope
August 29 – CB Cameron Brown
