Approximately three weeks ago, ESPN’s Troy Eklund issued an apology after wrongly claiming during an NCAA Tournament game that Tennessee catcher Evan Russell had failed a drug test.
Eklund admitted to inaccurately referencing social media rumors and acknowledged the lack of credible sources in his reporting. He expressed regret for any harm or distress caused by his comments.
“Speaking of Tennessee – I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to Tennessee’s Evan Russell and the Volunteer program for inaccurate, unsourced information I used Friday night during the Stillwater Regional,” Eklund said during the Missouri State-Grand Canyon game. “It was used in error and should not have been referenced. I regret any hurt or harm that it might have caused.”
However, the situation might not be resolved yet.
Evan’s father, Jason Russell, revealed on Twitter that his son had missed a game due to anxiety and stress.
In a conversation with OutKick’s Tomi Lahren, Russell mentioned that he is contemplating taking legal action against ESPN.
“Me and my legal team, we are pursuing many options,” Russell said. “But in a sense, it’s kind of to prevent it from happening again. There’s a lot of college baseball players, college athletes, that are really trying to make a career out of [their sport]. To have anyone professionally get up there in front of millions of people and say something derogatory toward anyone is kind of a tough thing to do.”
He added that he believes “emotions kind of got the best” of Eklund and is “sure he’s a pretty good analyst and stuff.”
Russell noted that Eklund did not directly contact him,
“He didn’t reach out personally to me,” Russell said. “I watched the apology. I wasn’t necessarily looking for an apology from him, in particular. He didn’t reach out to me personally. He kind of made it, trying to save himself.”
Despite this incident, Russell eventually returned to play, but his top-ranked team was knocked out from the super regionals by Notre Dame.
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