Meet the Michigan man who fought Ohio State players over team flag
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The planting of the Michigan team flag Saturday at Ohio Stadium ended with Ohio State linebacker Jack Sawyer ripping it from its pole and throwing it to the turf and cornerback Davison Igbinosun in a brief tug-of-war with a man in Michigan gear over control of it.
It turns out that man was similar to those Igbinosun might cover one day in the pros: He's a former NFL wide receiver.
Media reports over the weekend identified the man as Jason Avant, the sideline reporter for the Michigan radio network. He was on the field for the Wolverines' 13-10 win over Ohio State and remained there after the game as Michigan players celebrated the upset by planting the team flag at midfield. Those players were met almost immediately by Buckeyes who didn't like what they were seeing.
A large melee broke out, with police intervening and using pepper spray to calm both sides down. That's when Avant saw Sawyer and Igbinosun with the flag.
“The craziest thing is, I wasn’t looking to do it,” Avant, himself a former Michigan player, told the Detroit News. “I saw a dude with a Buckeye jersey with the flag, and I was like, 'Hey, what is going on?' I didn’t see the flag plant. I didn’t see the confrontation or scuffle or anything. I just saw the guy with the flag, and I was like, ‘Ah, let me get that back.’"
Watch: Ohio State-Michigan melee
Avant and Igbinosun compete for flag starting at 48-second mark
Avant wrested the flag away from Igbinosun and got shoved in the back by Buckeyes defensive lineman Dominic Kirks before Igbinosun made one last grab at it before walking away.
Once off the field, Avant took the flag to the Michigan locker room. The incident led to one arrest, one police officer being injured and the Big Ten fining both universities $100,000 each. The conference stopped short, however, of issuing player suspensions that could affect either team in the postseason. For No. 7 Ohio State (10-2), that's expected to be in the College Football Playoff, and for unranked Michigan (7-5), in a nonplayoff bowl game.
That gives Avant, in his third year on the air, one more game to report on this season. He played 11 seasons in the NFL starting in 2006, a career that included time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs. Although he never had more than three touchdown catches in any season, he was on playoff teams over six years with the Eagles and Chiefs.
His record as a Wolverine against the Buckeyes wasn't as strong. He went 1-3 from 2002 to '05. Still, the players he shared those games with began reaching out to him this weekend.
“The ‘Flag Man’ is what my teammates are calling me now,” he said.