After receiving a ton of backlash from Ohio State players and fans for his recent attention-seeking comments to The Lantern (OSU’s school newspaper), former Buckeye Ray Small is now backing off his words. In fact, he has even gone as far as to blame the reporter for twisting his words.

From ESPN.com:

“I’ve come back to retract my words, because there’s two sides to every story, and I want to tell the world my side of the story,” Small said in an interview Friday with Outside the Lines’ Tom Farrey.

The newspaper, The Lantern, said it stands by its story and everything Small said is on tape. On Friday, Small said he sold his own memorabilia, but he never said everyone was doing it.

Small goes on to say that the reason he sold the memorabilia was because he needed to pay his rent.

Small said he earned up to $2,000 from selling two of his Big Ten Championship rings while he was playing for the Buckeyes, acts that he knew at the time were in violation of NCAA rules.

He just didn’t care — or feel he had a choice. He needed the cash to make ends meet, he said.

“It was either break the rule or get evicted,” Small told Outside the Lines on Friday. “That was the best thing I could do. It was the smartest plan I came up with to pay my rent.”

Small, whose senior season with the Buckeyes was in 2009, said he sold the rings midway through his Buckeye career because his regular scholarship check for room and board didn’t cover his year-round costs of living in Columbus. He also felt compelled to unload them because he lacked the funds to afford a car he was driving at the time, a 2007 Chrysler 300 that carried a $600 monthly payment.

“Being young, I wasn’t good with my money,” he said. “I made a bad decision on a car and I had to pay it.”

No, you weren’t.

It sounds like Small was faced with simple money management and failed to grasp that you can’t exceed your budget. I’m not going to feel bad for him for having to sell his rings to pay the rent. The only reason he was faced with, “be evicted or pay the rent,” was because he made poor choices with his money. And then he compounded the issue by selling his rings and violating NCAA rules.

Quite frankly, I think the only reason why he’s backing off of his earlier comments (or at least part of them) is because his OSU buddies are ticked off and have responded with some unkind words for dear ol’ Ray.

“I am a Buckeye at heart,” he said.

“I never heard another player say he sold his ring,” Small said.

“Show me a coward and I will show you Ray Small,” center Mike Brewster tweeted. “He isn’t part of the sacred brotherhood anymore. Never on time, never accountable, never sacrificed for the team. Can you trust his word?”

It doesn’t appear we can, no. And actually, I don’t know anyone who can be trusted from the Ohio State football program these days.