Rutgers football player decides to transfer over school's coronavirus vaccine mandate

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A Rutgers defensive back said Tuesday he will enter the transfer portal and not return to the football team over the school’s vaccine requirement for students.

Peyton Powell, a former four-star recruit from Texas who initially verbally committed to Utah and spent a few months at Baylor, wrote on Twitter he was going to leave the school.

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"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," he tweeted.

Powell was getting roasted on social media for calling the school the "University of Rutgers" and later acknowledged his mistake and tried to correct it in a subsequent tweet.

The defensive player mostly retweets other tweets on Twitter but expressed optimism about playing for the Scarlet Knights before the start of the 2020 season.

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He did not play in 2020 as he was switching positions from quarterback to cornerback.

In March, Rutgers announced all students must have the coronavirus vaccine by the fall semester.

"We are committed to health and safety for all members of our community, and adding COVID-19 vaccination to our student immunization requirements will help provide a safer and more robust college experience for our students," Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said in a press release.

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Rutgers is the largest college in New Jersey.