Despite missing over half of the 2016-17 season with a broken foot, Antonio Campbell's appeal to return for a fifth season was denied.
The story was first reported by The Athens Messenger.
The decision from the NCAA officially ended Campbell’s career at Ohio with lingering questions that will never be answered. The Bobcats advanced to the semi-finals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament without Campbell last season, begging the question about what their ceiling could have been with him in tow.
With Campbell officially gone, Kenny Kaminski graduated and Jaaron Simmons — the catalyst behind last year’s conference tournament run — playing at Michigan this season, Ohio will enter this season without three of their top four scorers from last year.
The remaining players are familiar with filling in for a lost teammate, but this time it is harder to clearly peg a new number one option. Jason Carter, who surpassed all expectations as a freshman playing Campbell’s position is an option. Jordan Dartis, the sharpshooting two-guard and only returning double digit scorer, is as well.
Maybe it will be a new face not yet familiar to The Convo.
The Bobcats have until November to work through their uncertainties, but there is one thing now known: They will look significantly different by then.
