‘That’s gotta be a lie’ – Former Ohio State football players made some crazy comments about the Chaz Coleman situation at Tennessee
It’s looking increasingly likely that Penn State Nittany Lions transfer EDGE addition Chaz Coleman won’t be a part of the Tennessee Volunteers football program this fall.
A couple of former Ohio State football players made some wild comments this week about the Tennessee Vols and EDGE Chaz Coleman.
Coleman, who transferred from Penn State to Tennessee in January, is a high-upside player with NFL-level talent, but he barely participated in spring practice with the Vols. And he hasn’t really been around the team the last couple of months.
It’s considered highly unlikely at this point that Coleman, who has reportedly dealt with some off-the-field personal issues this offseason, will be part of Tennessee’s football team this fall.
Coleman, a rising sophomore, was one of the Vols’ biggest transfer additions of the offseason. Tennessee landed the talented EDGE over Ohio State.
Part of the reason the Vols made Coleman a priority when the transfer portal opened in January is because he played for new Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles at Penn State last season.
Former Ohio State linebackers drop some crazy comments about the Chaz Coleman situation
Former Ohio State linebackers Bobby Carpenter and Steele Chambers discussed the Tennessee/Coleman situation this week on The Bobby Carpenter Show.
And man, there’s a lot to unpack.
“I feel like that’s kind of the dark side of NIL,” said Chambers. “You’re throwing a bunch of money at them, and I guess Tennessee didn’t really do their due diligence to see what kind of guy he is. And I think that’s why I’m really positive on Ohio State. It seems like they kind of really did their homework. They saw that he was an Ohio guy, he’s obviously a really good player, but he might not have the same cultural fit that you want [in] a guy coming to Ohio State.”
“I guess there was limited to no contact with Chaz Coleman and Josh Heupel, and whoever else was dealing with him,” added Carpenter. “Maybe (some contact) on the defensive side. But also with that, the reasons they said (for Coleman missing time) were, like, homesickness. And then most recently was vertigo.”
“Wait, Vertigo?” chimed in Chambers. “That’s an old man disease. This dude has vertigo? It’s like saying he has scurvy or something. I haven’t heard vertigo in years.”
“Vertigo, essentially, you get dizzy is what it is,” said Carpenter. “But like you said, he’s, I don’t know, 22 years old, 21, something like that. I mean, if you’re telling me you had vertigo for however long, like you were homesick, and then just fell into some vertigo, and now you have these dizzy spells, and you can’t stand up.”
“That’s gotta be a lie,” said Chambers. “I can’t imagine an athlete of that caliber is complaining about vertigo and how he’s dizzy. That’s something that a pregnant lady can complain about, not him.”
“He was at Penn State for a couple of years,” added Carpenter. “He’s from Warren (Ohio), so it’s close. Maybe he was going back and forth. I mean, Tennessee is not California, it’s not terribly far from Warren, Ohio. But the problem with this too, and this is why I have limited sympathy for him, is if you knew you’re a homebody, and you like to be around your family, you could have come to Ohio State. It’s not that they didn’t want you, they just didn’t want you at the price that you thought you should be getting. And so that’s the trade-off that you make of I want to be closer to home, I may not make the top dollar that I could get in the market, but I’m going to be happier because of it.
“You’re getting paid in that relational equity as well, and so I have limited sorrow for him in this, and a little bit for Tennessee. But part of it is too — it’s like speed dating. You don’t get to know them. Ohio State recruited him out of high school, so they knew him a little better, but you don’t get to know these guys.”
“If you’re going to be whining and saying, ‘Oh, I’m home sick, I want to go home,’ whatever, then yeah, come to Ohio State,” added Chambers. “But if you’re going to Tennessee, and you want to stay in Ohio, like, dude, you’ve got to figure it out. You’re an adult now. You can’t be complaining about wanting to go home all the time.”
I don’t know either of these guys, so I don’t want to throw shade at either of them. No one bats 1.000 with sports takes.
But I don’t think they have quite enough information to be discussing this situation. And I’m not talking about inside information, I’m talking about readily available and very public information.
For starters, Coleman was only at Penn State for one season. He’s only 19 years old (Coleman turns 20 in December). Secondly, Tennessee absolutely did their “homework” on the situation — Coleman played for Knowles and LEOs coach Andrew Jackson at Penn State last season. The situation with Coleman this offseason has been a surprise to everyone at Tennessee — including the coaches who were around him last season.
The vertigo comments, though, are what’s really crazy. Vertigo can affect anyone at any age. And it’s not just a brief dizzy sensation. I’ve never experienced vertigo, but I’ve been around people who have. I’ve seen it put down otherwise highly functioning adults for a whole day. Each situation is unique, but it absolutely can put someone out of commission while they’re experiencing symptoms. I don’t know Coleman’s specific situation with it, but it’s not crazy to think that it’s a serious issue for him (it’s been reported that Coleman suffered a head injury late last season at Penn State that’s had some lasting effects).
Ultimately, these kinds of comments from Chambers and Carpenter — and many fans and media in general — are probably hard for a 19-year-old to deal with. I know everyone wants to talk about the money, and that’s fair. But he’s still a human. He’s still a 19-year-old in the very beginning of adulthood. Let’s take the football part away for a moment — how many 19 year olds have life completely figured out? Hell, there are 39-year-olds still trying to figure it out.
The situation is what it is. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to work out for him at Tennessee. But maybe have some grace for the guy? He’s clearly struggling with some things and trying to figure out what it is he wants to do. Football is the game he plays, it’s not who he is.