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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Marshall safety Jahsen Wint, a former Ohio State player who was acquitted of rape and kidnapping charges in February, was declared eligible to play by the NCAA on Thursday.
Wint, who transferred to Marshall in May, is set to play for the Thundering Herd in Saturday’s season opener against Albany. The game will mark Wint’s first in 1,386 days.
In February 2020, Wint and another Ohio State player, Amir Riep, were accused of rape by another Ohio State student. Ohio State dismissed both players a day after they were charged with rape and kidnapping.
On Feb. 9, an Ohio jury found both Wint and Riep not guilty of all charges. Their attorneys had argued during the trial that they both had consensual sex with the female student. Ohio State reinstated Wint following his acquittal and awarded him his degree from the school.
Sean Tuttle, Marshall’s associate athletic director for compliance, informed Wint on Thursday that the NCAA had cleared him to play.
“The whole way here, I was just wondering what would happen,” Wint told Marshall’s athletics website, herdzone.com. “I was having hope that everything would be good, but in your mind, you always wonder, ‘What if it doesn’t?’ Emotions just started to build and I was crying halfway on my walk down. I saw Sean standing there and he told me the news. It was like a huge weight was off my shoulder — boulders were lifted.”
Riep announced in May that he would be transferring to play for Lincoln University in California.
Wint, a native of Brooklyn, New York, had 39 career tackles and a sack while playing for Ohio State from 2017 to 2019. His last game occurred Nov. 16, 2019, against Rutgers.
“In a time when the NCAA is under extreme scrutiny, they were very diligent in examining the information we were able to gather and present on Jahsen’s behalf, and they were able to ultimately come to a decision that was in the best interest of the student-athlete while keeping the integrity of their guidelines and protocols in place,” Marshall coach Charles Huff told herdzone.com. “This goes to show that with proper collaboration, communication and foresight, we can be great here at Marshall and create opportunities for young men like Jahsen to create value for themselves.”