Ryan Day 'hopeful' for Jaxon Smith-Njigba's return this year, remains confident in depth behind him

Ohio State was expecting Jaxon Smith-Njigba to be one of the key pieces on the offense in 2022. Unfortunately, because of an injury, Smith-Njigba has only been able to play in three games and grab five catches on the season. However, head coach Ryan Day is still confident that he will be able to play again in 2022.

This came up at a press conference when Ryan Day was asked if he was hopeful for a return this season or postseason from Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

“Absolutely,” Ryan Day said. “Yes.”

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Ryan Day was then asked a follow-up question from that same reporter. If Jaxon Smith-Njigba can’t play, can Ohio State achieve its goals without him?

“I think we can. But, at the same time, we’d love to have him back, as I’m sure you could imagine. But, you know, this team is working hard and that’s why we build depth because you just don’t know and I’m sure that there’s more adversity coming our way,” Ryan Day said.

“So, we gotta rely on our leadership and we’re into November now. So, you just never know what’s coming, and I think we’ve built up some hardness to us and we’ve got to keep building on that as well.”

Ohio State’s next two games are against Northwestern and Indiana. Both of these teams are at the bottom of the Big Ten standings, so the Buckeyes might not need Jaxon Smith-Njigba back yet. At the same time, they obviously want him back as soon as possible.

Ryan Day confirmed Miyan Williams’ injury isn’t serious

Another key player on the offense, running back Miyan Williams, went down with an injury against Penn State. While he did not return to the game against Penn State, Ryan Day did confirm that his injury isn’t serious.

“So I think what we’ve got to do is stick to the policy with the injuries, we’ve kind of gotten loose with that and that’s my fault. I think we gotta go back to the availability report that we kind of built our policy last year, because once I start going down the road with one person, then it goes to somebody else, and I just think it’s the right thing to do to protect the players,” Ryan Day said.

“That being said, on Saturday that was a very strange thing that happened. He was over by the sideline and when he got to the sideline the chains crew didn’t drop the chains, so his hand and his arm got caught up in the chain marker, and he got banged up. So I don’t really have an update on him, because I feel like once I give an update on one I gotta give it on somebody else, but I guess the best thing I can say is it’s not serious.”