Report: Jaxon Smith-Njigba out against Rutgers

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Ohio State’s star wideout, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, just hasn’t been able to stay on the field thus far this year, with hamstring injuries plaguing the true junior. Ahead of the Buckeyes’ home game today vs. Rutgers, ESPN’s Pete Thamel revealed JSN will not play. However, he did provide optimism for Smtih-Njigba returning possibly next week but for certain after the bye.

Here was Thamel’s update when he joined College GameDay.

“Yeah, Ohio State has been very careful with Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s hamstring. He obviously injured it in the opener against Notre Dame. He’s only played a half against Toledo. They’ll evaluate him next week for Michigan State. Then they have a bye, then Iowa and Penn State. So they expect him to be fine by the end of that bye. But there’s still some variability next week against Michigan State.”

Hope to see the talented playmaker back on the field soon!

Ryan Day admits Jaxon Smith-Njigba is ‘struggling’ during injury process

While the Buckeyes are still excelling in his absence, head coach Ryan Day revealed that Smith-Njigba is ‘struggling’ during the injury process.

“He’s been OK. I mean, he hasn’t been great. He’s struggling,” said Day. “He wants to play. He’s one of the more competitive players I’ve been around before. But rarely does it go the way you expect it to go. That’s just life in general. Life’s gonna throw adversity our way and we control the response. There’s so many things in our life that we’re not gonna be able to understand.

“So these are great opportunities for us to help them deal with that down the road. We talk to our team a lot about that. Just about the different things. How many guys in that locker room (has) their career, last season or this game has played out exactly the way they wanted? So we try to talk to them about not focusing so much on the expectations and just focusing on the moment the best they can. It’s not easy for him I’m sure, but if he can keep doing that, then this will be behind him soon and he’ll be stronger for it.”