CJ Stroud shares excitement to get Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Miyan Williams back on offense

Injuries are never ideal in football. Especially to two of your prominent playmakers. The new No. 2 team in the country, Ohio State, was without their star wide receiver and leading rusher in the win over Michigan State this past weekend. The wideout, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, has missed virtually the entire season, while the tailback, Miyan Williams, emerged into stardom through five weeks before missing the sixth.

Both now seem to be on the mend, and at the perfect time. Frankly, the first half of the Buckeyes’ schedule is far softer than the second half. OSU faced zero teams currently ranked and took care of business against three Big Ten opponents with a collective 1-8 conference record. Then this coming week is the bye. A breeze for Ryan Day’s club through seven weeks.

So if you had to rehab some injured guys, this was the stretch to do so. Quarterback and Heisman hopeful CJ Stroud captained the ship without the two star playmakers, sailing to a 6-0 record with every win by double-digits and the last five by four touchdowns or more. With powers like Penn State and Michigan on the slate for the home stretch, he’s relieved to be getting Smith-Njigba and Williams back.

Here he was at a press conference this week, explaining how important the two of them are to the offense and revealing his excitement for their return:

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CJ Stroud on return of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Miyan Williams

“I think, I mean, I don’t really think we have a limit. I’m super excited to get Jaxon back. And of course, Miyan. Just to see where we’re at full strength. But at the end of the day, I think we gotta press this bye week and make sure that we continue to get better. And hopefully they come along.

Of course, I know Jackson and Miyan are two veterans that we need. When you add leadership into that as well, they’ve definitely stepped up in that area. So I definitely think that they’ll come in and have an immediate impact. And I’m actually bummed for Jaxon, man. All the work that he puts in and how hard of work — he’s a good guy. So when you when your brother’s not out there, that kind of hurts a little bit.

And then, we’ve also had to adjust with that just because he’s such a dominant player in there in a slot position, even on the outside. So I’m super excited to get him back. Super excited to get Miyan back as well. I think [TreVeyon Henderson] did a great job today and being one of our only backs, Dallan [Hayden] did a great job as well. So yeah I’m super excited to get everybody back.