COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A booster says he’s responsible for envelopes containing $200 in cash given to three Ohio State football players that led the NCAA to suspend them for two games apiece, a newspaper is reporting.
Robert “Bobby” DiGeronimo told The Columbus Dispatch that he was behind former Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor giving the three players the envelopes.
Says DiGeronimo: “I handled it wrong.”
The NCAA suspended the players — tailback Jordan Hall and cornerback Travis Howard, both set to start Ohio State’s opening game, and backup safety Corey Brown — for accepting improper benefits. They were reinstated on Tuesday and could play in the 17th-ranked Buckeyes’ game on Saturday at Miami.
Pryor, the focus of an NCAA investigation, left the team this summer and is now with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.