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\tTed Ginn Jr. Bounces Back with First Win<\/p>\n
\n\tIt’s never easy watching your heroes let you down. That was something many Ohio State fans and myself\u00a0had to deal with last week when the news broke that my favorite Ohio State football player of all-time \u2014 Ted Ginn Jr. \u2014 had been arrested on a DWI misdemeanor the night before he was set to coach his third game for the Columbus Aviators.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\tFormer Ohio State wide receiver and Columbus Aviators head coach Ted Ginn Jr. was arrested for DWI on Saturday morning. https:\/\/t.co\/1ML6wOg3FX<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Eleven Warriors (@11W) April 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tGinn Jr. has held permanent residence in my Buckeye fan brain since sixth grade when I made watching this YouTube video a regular part of my daily routine. The May 30th, 2006 publishing timestamp backs up that statement.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tSo you can imagine how disappointed my inner child was to hear this man that I watched move on the\u00a0football field as if he were playing a different sport \u2014 because, as a track star, he was \u2014 had maneuvered\u00a0himself into such a difficult position. Ginn Jr. was already one of the most beloved Buckeyes of his era even before he assumed an even\u00a0greater spotlight as a leader of men for one of the teams in an up-and-coming sports league. This moment of weakness the night before the team he leads would fall to 0-3 without him present due to his actions had the potential to do serious damage to his legacy.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWould he take accountability? Or would he fall into the same pattern of his college teammate that dealt with his own impaired driving saga less than a year ago?\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tFormer Ohio State offensive lineman Kirk Barton will serve at least five years in prison for killing a 24-year-old in a high-speed, wrong-way car crash last summer. https:\/\/t.co\/L920mF22Bk<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Eleven Warriors (@11W) March 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tIn the Eleven Warriors\u00a0article detailing last month’s court proceedings, Chase Brown noted that legal records\u00a0show\u00a0Kirk Barton had prior traffic violations dating back to 2010 that included multiple OVI charges that either ultimately became dismissed or reduced. On the night of Barton’s vehicular homicide incident, his blood alcohol level was greater than three times the legal limit.\n<\/p>\n \n\tGinn Jr. addressed his arrest\u00a0publicly last Sunday on his social media less than 36 hours after his arrest. He received a Class B misdemeanor charge for driving while intoxicated, but was released after posting $1,000\u00a0bond.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tI want to address the situation that took place over the weekend.<\/p>\n I made a serious mistake and take full responsibility for my actions. Ive always believed in accountability and now its my turn to live that standard.<\/p>\n I understand the responsibility that comes with being a pic.twitter.com\/Z8d2o7Hr9H<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ted Ginn Jr (@TedGinnJr_19) April 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThe Aviators lost\u00a0their visit to Frisco, Texas by a final score of 28-23 to the Dallas Renegades while Ginn Jr. remained absent from the team. Now winless and facing the undefeated Renegades again in a home-and-home less than a week later, something had to change to avoid the entire operation\u00a0bottoming out.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn the belly of the whale, Ginn Jr. took an even greater share of accountability and channeled it into\u00a0reshaping the approach of the Aviators with their season on the brink. After not attempting more than 25 rushes as a team the whole UFL season, Ginn Jr. turned the Aviators into an ironic nickname and proceeded to rebrand\u00a0Columbus as\u00a0an all-out ground assault in the rematch with Dallas.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tYOU ALREADY KNOW<\/p>\n ZAQUANDRE WHITE TOUCHDOWN! pic.twitter.com\/G3DeDYBy9b<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Columbus Aviators (@UFLAviators) April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tGinn Jr. and the Aviators shattered the UFL single-game team rushing attempts record by dialing up 47 carries for his running back room. The fourth quarter for Columbus proved reminiscent of Ohio State’s mauling against Michigan down the stretch in Ann Arbor last season. The Aviators ultimately won by a 28-14 final score, and Ginn Jr. received a Gatorade bath to celebrate his first win as a head coach.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tTed Ginn Jr. and @UFLAviators<\/a> secure their first win in franchise history pic.twitter.com\/hRi47FXqhu<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 United Football League (@TheUFL) April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tWatching your heroes let you down can be devastating, but watching them bounce back reminds you why they became\u00a0your heroes in the first place. Learn from your mistakes as Ginn Jr. did and don’t let a bad decision become something even worse.\n<\/p>\n \tKyle Snyder vs. Khamzat Chimaev?<\/p>\n \n\tNearly eight years following the end of his career at Ohio State, Kyle Snyder remains one of the greatest wrestlers to ever compete on behalf of not merely the Buckeyes, but the United States as a whole and even the sport itself. Although Snyder never pursued a career in mixed martial arts despite expressing interest in such a path following his\u00a0gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, he could\u00a0still end up confronting MMA\u00a0in what may\u00a0prove\u00a0one of the most important\u00a0matches of his career.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSnyder currently holds the light heavyweight championship belt with the Real American Freestyle (RAF) wrestling promotion based out of Tampa, FL. RAF began staging events last year with its first show in Cleveland, OH; while Snyder made his debut with the promotion only last month before successfully defending his title last night at RAF 08 in Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter his 15th victory in 16 contests over the last year, and as combat sports stars have begun turning to RAF as a vehicle for promoting their talents between bookings\u00a0with lower risk of injury than usual, Snyder expressed interest in a new challenge: international UFC superstar Khamzat Chimaev.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tOlympic champion Kyle Snyder says Khamzat Chimaev is the only UFC champion hed like to wrestle at RAF<\/p>\n https:\/\/t.co\/v3oz12IJD8<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ISNWRClCbv<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThis would be one of the most noteworthy\u00a0matches from a name-brand value perspective for RAF to make. Chimaev\u00a0made his professional MMA debut only\u00a0a couple weeks removed from\u00a0Snyder’s\u00a0Ohio State graduation in 2018, but\u00a0merely two years later\u00a0had already earned a spot on the UFC roster. He\u00a0then quickly captured the world’s imagination during a COVID-compromised sports schedule that saw the UFC as one of the only athletic\u00a0attractions on regularly through most of\u00a02020.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t#OnThisDay<\/a> in 2020: Khamzat Chimaev needed just 17 seconds to KO Gerald Meerschaert<\/p>\n Watch in full on @UFCFightPass<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pZNiBFCa4o<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) September 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tChimaev now sits 15-0 as UFC middleweight champion and is ranked as the promotion’s pound-for-pound third-best fighter in the entire world. He set a pair of UFC records in his title-winning effort at UFC 319\u00a0last year after landing 529 total strikes and controlling his opponent for nearly 22 of all 25 minutes of the fight. The undefeated champion will make his first title defense at UFC 328 in Newark, New Jersey,\u00a0next month.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIncluding his 24-0 record in freestyle wrestling in which he surrendered merely eight points to opponents, Chimaev has never been defeated in professional combat sports. However, he has also only competed in freestyle wrestling once since 2018 and never outside of Sweden.\n<\/p>\n \n\tEven so, Chimaev’s wrestling dominance against UFC talent has been part of what he has proudly built his fighting profile on. While cutting weight for his title fight last year, a video of Chimaev swinging around former two-division UFC champion and wrestling Olympian Daniel Cormier went viral in illustrating the raw strength Chimaev possesses.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tKhamzat Chimaev pulled up on Daniel Cormier and absolutely manhandled him<\/p>\n (via @AdamZubayraev<\/a>) pic.twitter.com\/yBHOQXKnSd<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) August 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tDedicated fans of wrestling as a sport continue to insist\u00a0that the gap between their abilities and that of mixed martial artists remains far wider than the latter party would ever want to admit. Snyder seems keen on proving such an idea true on the largest stage possible.\n<\/p>\n \tJames Franklin Era\u00a0at Virginia Tech Begins with Parachute Accident<\/p>\n \n\tJames Franklin may no longer be with Penn State, but college football can’t escape Frames Janklin. Before Virginia Tech could even take the field for its own spring game yesterday, chaos had already begun its descent on the Hokies’ football program. By the end of the afternoon,\u00a0“this is how legends are\u00a0made” had\u00a0replaced “Enter Sandman” as the most infamous pre-game music tradition\u00a0offered at Lane Stadium.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tGuy parachuting into Virginia Tech Spring game is stuck on the scoreboard after rough collision. #oops<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/2smQ30FAxN<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 JIMMY (@yakubbsmonster) April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThankfully, the original poster (“JIMMY”) clarified that the parachuter ultimately received rescue after a second ladder truck arrived to help him down when the first on scene proved too short. That means we can all eventually look back on this incident years from now and laugh in recognizing what it foreshadowed for VT under Franklin.\n<\/p>\n \tICYMI<\/p>\n \tDefense Triumphs Over Offense at Ohio State Spring Game<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tVirginia Tech wasn’t the only school with a spring game yesterday! In case you missed any of the standout performances from Chris Henry Jr. or the Silver Bullets, check out this recap of the afternoon from the 11W beat staff.\n<\/p>\n