Buckeyes LB Arvell Reese OUT vs. Youngstown State With Injury
While the Ohio State Buckeyes remained healthy against the Indiana Hoosiers, they were nabbed by the injury bug early against the Youngstown State Penguins.
After the Buckeyes' opening drive in which quarterback Kyle McCord found wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. for a 71-yard touchdown, on the ensuing kickoff, linebacker Arvell Reese was injured on the play. The injury he sustained is unclear at the moment, but he walked off the field with trainers.
Reese will return to the game Saturday.
Reese is a four-star freshman from Cleveland in the class of 2023 and was the fifth-ranked player in the state of Ohio.
Reese played six snaps on kick coverage last week in the season opener against the Indiana Hoosiers. He received a 54.6 special teams grade last week, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Buckeyes' coaching staff talked in preseason training camp about potentially cross-training Reese as both a linebacker and potentially an edge rusher to help out defensive line coach Larry Johnson's pass-rushing department.
The Buckeyes have plenty of secondary and linebacker pieces that can be plugged on special teams. In the linebacker room, Ohio State is still fairly healthy.
Kourt Williams II is the only linebacker unavailable for Saturday's contest against Youngstown State, which means in addition to Tommy Eichenberg and Steele Chambers, Ohio State has C.J. Hicks, Cody Simon, Mitchell Melton, Reid Carrico and Gabe Powers among others to fill the void left by Reese's absence.
Ohio State and Youngstown State are currently tied 7-7 in the first quarter.
