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Ohio State players shoot down report describing racially-charged incident between Zach Smith, former player

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

It didn’t take long for Brett McMurphy’s latest report to get shot down by a current Ohio State player. Johnnie Dixon III was quick to Twitter to deny the report.

On Tuesday, McMurphy published a story for Stadium in which LeBron Grimes, father of former wide receiver Trevon Grimes, left Ohio State after an altercation between his son and ex-assistant coach Zach Smith. In the report, Smith allegedly used racially motivated language.

McMurphy’s report also stated the LeBron Grimes said Urban Meyer covered up the incident.

Shortly after the story was published, Dixon took to Twitter to deny the report.

“I witness(ed) the whole altercation and this didn’t happen,” Dixon wrote. “You think a group of African American young men will sit there and let something like this happen? Say what you want but this isn’t true at all.”

Not long after Dixon’s statement, Parris Campbell also chimed in.

“There’s no way that anyone would believe this. NO WAY,” Campbell wrote. “This lie is just out of hand. I was present during the entire altercation and what’s said in this article NEVER HAPPENED. I can guarantee it. Crazy how social media give people platforms just to spread nonsense.”

Ohio State has issued a statement acknowledging that there was an altercation between Smith and Grimes but that the incident didn’t turn physical and no racial slurs were used.

The incident reportedly happened during a practice in 2017.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB