Rutgers Football Player Quits Team Over COVID Vaccine Mandate

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A player on the Rutgers University football team left the school and quit the team over Rutgers' COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The player is Peyton Powell, a defensive back who would have been a sophomore this year. He is originally from Midland, Texas.

On Tuesday, Powell tweeted on his personal Twitter account: "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."

A spokesman for Rutgers University Athletics confirmed that Powell is no longer with the program.

The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has no vaccine mandate for athletes; it is left up to individual colleges and universities.

In March of this year, Rutgers was the first university in America to require students show proof of coronavirus vaccination in order to return to on-campus classes and dorms. However, since then, hundreds of other colleges have followed with their own vaccine mandates, including Princeton, Harvard and Stanford.

Classes start Sept. 1, and so far, more than 95 percent of students have presented proof of vaccination, said Rutgers President Holloway in this Aug. 11 update. The school also says 97 percent of professors have been vaccinated as well.

Unlike Princeton, Rutgers is not requiring professors to be vaccinated, however there is a push by some professors to include them in the mandate.

Last week, well-known anti-vax group Children's Health Defense filed a federal lawsuit against RU on behalf of 18 Rutgers undergrads over the vaccine mandate.

Powell started his college career at Baylor University in Texas, and transferred to Rutgers in 2020. He was ranked the 237th best player in the nation by ESPN 300, a high school football ranking. His bio states he is a labor studies and employment relations major.

Read: Rutgers Professors: We Should Be Included In Vaccine Mandate (Aug. 17)

Rutgers Sued By Students For Vaccine Mandate (Aug. 17)

Be the first to know. Sign up to get Patch emails: https://patch.com/subscribe Contact this Patch reporter: [email protected]