When Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade opted out of the college football season on Monday, all Big Ten programs were set to remain idle through the end of the year due to the conference's decision to postpone football and other fall sports because of the coronavirus pandemic on Aug. 11. That all changed on Wednesday, though, when the league announced plans for an altered season that will start the weekend of Oct. 23-24.
As Harry Lyles Jr. and Tom VanHaaren of ESPN explained, Wade hasn't yet changed his mind about his decision.
"Right now, I haven't decided," Wade said during an appearance on "Outside the Lines." "... I knew it was going to come back, but I just didn't know it was going to come back soon. They have been saying a lot of stuff on Twitter and different sources, but at the end of the day, it just, I really don't know ...
"Today's just been a wild day for me. Really, I just don't know what I'm going to do, what decision I'm going to make right now. ... I'll come back tomorrow and really think about it."
A relationship Wade has with an agent could strip him of his NCAA eligibility, but he has the option of going through the Student-Athlete Reinstatement process if he wishes to feature for the Buckeyes on Saturdays.
Wade likely has millions upon millions of reasons to forgo the 2020 college campaign held amid the health crisis. Ryan Wilson, Chris Trapasso and Josh Edwards of CBS Sports all list the defensive back as a first-round pick in their latest 2021 NFL mock drafts. Edwards believes Wade could go off the board as a top-10 selection.
Walter Football forecasts Wade could be a top-15 pick in a mock draft updated on Wednesday.
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