Ohio State Could Be Without Two Starters Against Kent State After Texas Loss

These two starters are looking doubtful for Saturday.

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day is held back on the sideline during the NCAA football game against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas on Sept. 12, 2026. Texas won 24-23. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Week 2 turned out to be even worse than many Buckeye fans could imagine after blowing a three-score lead to Texas in the fourth quarter. In a game where Ohio State was leading 23-3, they were unable to close it out on the road.

The loss wasn’t the only bad news that came out of Austin on Saturday, as during the game two Ohio State starters left the game with injuries and did not end up returning. Those starters were senior right tackle Phillip Daniels and sophomore defensive end Zion Grady.

In Ryan Day’s press conference on Tuesday, he talked about the injuries, saying, “Those guys right now haven't really practiced much this week,” and “We'll have to see coming out of tomorrow how it shakes out. I would say it's probably trending toward them not being available. But we'll see how tomorrow goes.”

For Daniels, it looked to be a right leg injury he sustained in the fourth quarter on Saturday, as Austin Siereveld moved from right guard to right tackle and Gabe VanSickle came in to play right guard. VanSickle also got some work at guard in Week 1 against Ball State. 

In Grady’s case, his injury happened with about 10 minutes to go in the second quarter on a run play towards his side; he also looked to suffer a lower-body injury. Behind the sophomore, there is a mixed bag of ends who could prove their way into the lineup, especially against a MAC school on Saturday. 

That group consists of senior Beau Atkinson, Alabama transfer Qua Russaw, and freshman Khary Wilder. On a day like what Saturday should be (Ohio State dominating), there will be plenty of time to get a look at what the depth should look like in the second and third strings. 

Day does not seem super rushed to bring these two guys back for this week, and that’s for good reason. This Saturday, OSU will host Kent State, then host Illinois- two games that should serve as get-back games. After those games, that's when the real meat of the schedule will be served. 

In the six weeks after the Illinois game, Ohio State will have to travel to #18 Iowa, host Maryland, go to #4 Indiana, have a bye week, travel to #12 USC, and then host #21 Oregon. That’s when you need your best players healthy and not pushing them back at this point in the season. 

Depth is also key in football, especially on the defensive line, so if OSU can use the next two weeks to find their guys in the backup units or even a new starter, they will have used them effectively.