Ryan Day delivered injury update on Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day was certainly one of the many happy folks in the state of Ohio to have his star wide receivers, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, back for their 27-9 win over the Michigan Wolverines.

Tate had missed the previous two games with an injury, as Smith had missed the previous game and a half with his own injury. Smith and Tate combined for eight receptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the victory.

After their return, Day was asked for an update on how Smith and Tate were progressing ahead of the Big Ten Championship game against the number-two-ranked Indiana Hoosiers. Day was a lot more encouraging this week in his second update with his star receivers than he had been in the past few weeks.

"We're in a better place now than we were last week, so we're expecting a full week of work."

If there was any doubt about Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate's health coming out of the Michigan game, Ryan Day offered a great update.

"We're in a better place now than we were last week, so we're expecting a full week of work," he said.
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The Buckeyes got great production out of Tate in his return, as he was the leading receiver for Ohio State in the win over the Wolverines with five receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown. Smith had a quieter game, but still made a massive impact with three receptions for 40 yards and a beautiful 35-yard touchdown reception.

For the season, Smith still leads the team with 72 receptions for 942 yards and 11 touchdowns. Tate is right behind him with 44 receptions for 793 yards and eight touchdowns.

It was a massive boost to the passing game as Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin needed his top two pass catchers back in the lineup. Sayin finished with over 200 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Michigan.

All that rest Tate and Smith were able to get paid off for Ohio State, even though they were still able to beat up on lesser opponents like UCLA and Rutgers. The running game has come to life over the last few weeks, led by freshman running back Bo Jackson, who had 117 yards against Michigan.

This will be another week when Ohio State will have to be cautious with Smith and Tate to ensure they are ready to go against Indiana. While they will be pushed in practice, we will track their progress to see how they are doing throughout the week, and we hope for no setbacks.

Ohio State's offense seems to be in full strength as they are ready to capture the Big Ten title, the first step in their postseason journey to another national title.