Ohio State Recruit: 'I Hope I Don't Get Killed For Being Black Today'

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A Cleveland football player made quite the statement during his first football camp at Ohio State University.

But it wasn't Tyreke Smith's plays on the field that were noticed, it was the shirt he was wearing that got all the attention.

Smith, 17, is a four-star defensive end at Cleveland Heights High School and has been recruited by Ohio State reports WOIO.

Smith posted the photo of his shirt to Twitter after the camp was over.

The shirt read: "I hope I don't get killed for being black today."

Smith said he wore the shirt because he "wanted to bring attention to the epidemic of blacks being killed at an alarming rate."

He also told ElevenWarriors, "What we would like to do is have people talk about the issues to reduce the murder rate of African-Americans."

Smith said he wore the shirt to raise awareness and new that he'd be photographed wearing it.

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• Ohio State University
• Football