Nate Davis

USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn rebuked an unnamed team assistant for asking Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple if he was gay at last week's NFL scouting combine.

"I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches," Quinn said in a statement released Friday.

"I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves."

The assistant could be subject to discipline according to league policy, since such inquiries are impermissible.

"This is disappointing and clearly inappropriate as the Falcons acknowledged," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA TODAY Sports in an e-mail.

"We will look into it."

Former Colorado tight end Nick Kasa was asked similar questions probing his sexuality at the 2013 combine.

"The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, 'So do you like men?'" Apple told Comcast SportsNet in an interview Friday. "It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was just like, 'No.' He was like, 'If you're going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that's how it is around here. You're going to have to get used to it.'

"I guess he was joking, but they just ask most of these questions to see how you're going to react."

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