Football player transferring from Rutgers over COVID-19 vaccine policy

A student athlete is transferring from Rutgers University over the school’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, NBC News reported. 

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team defensive back Peyton Powell in a tweet on Tuesday shared his plans to enter the transfer pool due to the university’s new vaccination policy. 

Rutgers was one of the first schools in the nation to announce requirements for all students to be vaccinated, according to NBC News. 

“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,” Powell wrote in his tweet. 

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

The news comes amid the U.S. dealing with yet another wave of COVID-19 infections as the highly contagious delta variant is hitting the unvaccinated hard. 

Ole Miss head football coach Lane Kiffin announced last week that players on his roster and all of his team staff have been vaccinated. 

New Jersey’s government Twitter account poked fun at Powell misspelling his school’s official name and advised people to still get vaccinated. 

Rutgers University*

find a vaccination site near you: https://t.co/yk9Nz5pIYP https://t.co/1JKt6W8kbe

— New Jersey (@NJGov) August 25, 2021

Powell recently transferred to Rutgers from Baylor University in 2019, NBC News noted. 

This Hill has reached out to Rutgers University for comment.