Ohio State freshman defensive back out for season with injury

Ohio State defensive back Jantzen Dunn was in the midst of a great freshman season for the Buckeyes. However, a roadblock has been put in his way.

The rising star on defense and contributor on special-teams will miss the rest of the season after suffering a leg injury last week in the win over Rutgers. Additionally, it seems the road to recovery will be a difficult one for Dunn.

“That hurts just the way that all went down,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said during his Thursday press conference. “I thought that he had done a good job the week before. He had a good week of practice. He was starting to come on as a young guy. I think he’s got a very bright future ahead of him.

“Disappointed for him that he’s going to have to go through this. … Certainly a loss, and we feel for him.”

Moreover, the four-star recruit wasn’t supposed to play a significant role defensively this season. To illustrate, he hadn’t been credited with a tackle yet through the first five games of his career. Still, the Buckeyes thought enough of his early progress to take him on the road to New Jersey for a Big Ten game last week. He even got on the field, contributing on special teams.

Unfortunately, that’s where Dunn wound up getting injured. It happened during a kickoff return for the Buckeyes, and it will be his last action of his first year with the program.

Day on Dunn: ‘He’ll get stronger for it.’

“He’ll come out of the backend of this, and he’ll get stronger for it,” Day said. “He probably doesn’t see that right now, and it’s hard. But unfortunately that’s this game and that’s life. He’s going to have a lot of great days as a Buckeye, but this week has obviously not been a great week for him.

“He’s going to have to recover and really grind every day to get stronger. Then we’ll get him back on the field.”

Moving forward, Jantzen Dunn will have to attack his rehab with the same tenacity he did his freshman year. If he can, the highly-touted Ohio State recruit will be just fine.