A Rutgers University football player announced Tuesday that he will transfer because of the school’s coronavirus vaccine mandate.
Peyton Powell, who transferred to Rutgers in 2019, posted the message to his Twitter.
“[Rutgers University] has made the COVID vaccine mandatory to attend school and play football,” he wrote, “therefore I have no other choice but to enter my name into the transfer portal.”
The University of Rutgers has made the COVID vaccine mandatory to attend school and play football, therefore I have no other choice but to enter my name into the transfer portal.
— Peyton Powell (@PPowell_) August 24, 2021
Powell, a defensive back originally from Midland, Texas, transferred to Rutgers in December 2019, but he never played a snap for the team, as he was ruled ineligible to play in 2020. Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano said in August that Powell was not yet part of the team. “Right now he is not part of the team,” Schiano said. “We’ll see if he does become part of the team. But as we speak, he [is] not on the roster.”(RELATED: Paul Finebaum: ‘College Football Is In A State Of Disaster’)
Rutgers University announced in March that it would mandate that all students returning to campus for the fall 2021 semester would be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Since then, a total of nine Big Ten schools have instituted vaccine mandates for students for the fall semester.
A group of students have since filed suit against the University for its vaccine mandate.