Ohio State's Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Bradley Robinson Unavailable At Penn State
Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, long snapper Bradley Robinson and cornerback Cameron Brown are among the 15 players unavailable for Saturday’s game at Penn State, which kicks off at 12 p.m. on FOX.
Smith-Njigba’s absence is surprising given that head coach Ryan Day said earlier this week that he did not aggravate his hamstring or suffer another injury the win over Iowa and that he was simply on a “pitch count,” though he appeared to come up gingerly following a route in the second quarter.
“That’s the plan,” Day said when asked if Smith-Njigba was on track to play against the Nittany Lions. “As the week goes on, we’ll know more. When you come out of games like that, you’ve got to keep evaluating and see how things go, but we’ll keep figuring stuff out and by the end of the week, we’ll have a better idea.”
Day seemed less certain later in the week, though, as he deferred to the availability report when asked to provide an update on Smith-Njigba’s status. He was also asked about the possibility of shutting the star receiver down until later in the season in hopes of getting him fully healthy for a potential postseason run.
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“That’s the conversation that’s made on a daily basis. It has been for weeks,” Day said on Thursday. “I leave it up to the doctors and professionals in that area. I certainly don’t know a lot about the ins and outs of what you’re talking about. That’s why we have such a great crew here.”
This marks the fifth game of the season that the Buckeyes will play without Smith-Njigba, who was initially injured in the season-opening win over Notre Dame, returned to action two weeks later against Toledo, missed the next three games heading into the off week and then played 22 snaps against Iowa.
Robinson, meanwhile, left the win over the Hawkeyes with an apparent right knee injury. He went down on the first punt of the second half, then was spotted on the sidelines on crutches, with redshirt freshman Mason Arnold handling snaps on extra points and punts for the remainder of the game.
Lastly, Brown will be unavailable for the fourth time in the last five games after leaving the win over the Rockets with an undisclosed injury, which means redshirt freshman J.K. Johnson will start opposite of sophomore Denzel Burke once again. The full list of players who are unavailable for Saturday’s game is below:
Ohio State Availability Report Vs. Penn State
Unavailable:
• Freshman defensive end Omari Abor
• Fifth-year senior wide receiver Kamryn Babb
• Fifth-year senior cornerback Cameron Brown
• Freshman wide receiver Caleb Burton
• Freshman running back T.C. Caffey
• Redshirt freshman wide receiver Corban Cleveland
• Fifth-year senior cornerback Lloyd McFarquhar
• Redshirt sophomore defensive end Mitchell Melton
• Fifth-year senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell
• Redshirt freshman linebacker Jalen Pace
• Redshirt freshman running back Evan Pryor
• Seventh-year senior long snapper Bradley Robinson
• Redshirt sophomore tight end Joe Royer
• Junior wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Redshirt sophomore safety Kourt Williams
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