A top Ohio State football prospect might be suspended twice before the end of his senior year for playing football.

As the recruiting cycle heats up, other 2025 prospects schedule their spring visit dates.

The Ohio State football program revealed a number of extremely minor NCAA infractions on the same day that news broke that one of its top targets in the 2025 cycle would miss his senior season due to a suspension. Trey McNutt, the top-ranked recruit in Ohio, was punished for one game during his senior season for participating in a 7-on-7 football tournament over the allotted time frame, as per OHSAA regulations, according to 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong.

Son of former Ohio State defensive back Richard McNutt, McNutt is ranked No. 2 among safetys nationwide and No. 37 all players in 247’s Composite Rankings. The Shaker Heights standout participated in the Battle Miami 7v7 competition with Fast Houston last month, and this weekend she will compete in the USA Flag 7v7 competition. The highly sought-after prospect is participating despite being aware that it is against Ohio’s outmoded rules.

“I believe that the regulation is intolerable,” McNutt stated to 247Sports. It seems as though it is denying the children their fundamental rights as it gains control over them. How are you going to tell someone that they are unable to practice or play football at all when these other sports allow them to participate in AAU and other competitions but football is incapable of doing so?

OHSAA regulations provide that a non-interscholastic team in the same sport may participate from August 1 to May 14. Non-permissible events include flag football, touch football, arena football, and any kind of contact football.

Since this law does not apply to other Ohio high school sports, many people think that the Ohio State High School Football Coaches Association, rather than the OHSAA, is the organization pushing for the limits. McNutt is not a fan of the absurd rule, regardless of who is in charge of it.

He declared, “I’m fighting this rule because it’s for the generations after me and it’s generally wrong.”

McNutt might get another punishment for participating in this weekend’s event, having previously received one during his senior year. The OHSAA rule is ostensibly intended to encourage football players to participate in other spring sports, but in reality, it actively harms their chosen sport, thereby harming their development and collegiate potential. This is in contrast to the fact that many states, particularly in the south, have spring football, which allows players and teams to improve.

The rule is, was, and always will be stupid, and as collegiate football develops, it is becoming more and more out of date. Hopefully, McNutt’s challenge to the rule will result in significant adjustments to Ohio’s high school football policies and the needless restrictions it places on the athletes it is supposed to protect.