Clemson Football: NCAA denies Ostarine appeals; What does it mean moving forward?
The NCAA has denied the appeals of Clemson football players Braden Galloway and Zach Giella after the two tested positive for Ostarine back in December.
Last December, three Clemson football players tested positive for trace amounts of Ostarine, an illegal substance that is banned by the NCAA.
As a result, Dexter Lawrence, Braden Galloway and Zach Giella were forced to sit out the CFB Playoff. The Tigers went on to win the National Championship with a 44-16 win over Alabama.
Lawrence declared for the NFL Draft following the season, but both Galloway and Giella remained with the Clemson football program. The two players faced having to sit out a year, per the NCAA’s policy for testing positive for a banned substance.
All three players were adamant that they did not know how the substance ended up in their system and, as a result, both Galloway and Giella filed appeals. The two Tigers were informed Friday that their appeals had been denied by the NCAA.
The attorneys that represented the two athletes released a statement following the decision saying that the two players had passed NCAA sanctioned drug tests in April and October of 2018, and in January and February of 2019.
Both had passed a polygraph test with statements that they have no knowledge for how the banned drug got into their system. The release also said that Ostarine was a contaminant of legitimate products and that scientific experts were of the belief that a legitimate product had been contaminated with the substance, rather than the athletes knowingly taking it.
The evidence presented was not enough to reverse the original decision in the eyes of the NCAA, though, and both Galloway and Giella will have to sit out a year. Giella only had one year of eligibility remaining, so his Clemson football career is likely over.
Galloway will still have two years of eligibility remaining following the suspension and can return to the team for the 2020 season.
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The Tigers will miss both players, but especially Galloway with the lack of depth at the tight end position. If he was eligible for the 2019 season, he’d be the starter at tight end. With him gone, the Tigers will have JC Chalk and two true-freshmen- Jaelyn Lay and Davis Allen- at the position.