Ryan Day provides injury updates on Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jordan Hancock

Ohio State has been without some key pieces during its 2022 season so far, but has maintained a perfect record and stood firm at No. 3 in the polls behind a fluctuating opinion on Alabama and Georgia at the top. However, as the Buckeyes get healthy, they look primed to compete alongside anyone in the hunt for a national championship this year.

Head coach Ryan Day has spent plenty time over the past several weeks relaying messages on the health of wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and defensive back Jordan Hancock, and his most recent press conference was no different. He started by providing the latest timeline for Hancock, who he initially projected would make a return several weeks ago.

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“Full-speed, yeah,” Day said on Hancock’s practice workload. “But we’re going to look to see if we can get through the bye week and then as we get to that game after the bye week, we’re hoping to get him back into the game at that point. It’s still sort of week-to-week at this point.”

While the bye week provides Ohio State a chance to get healthy, Day is not counting on that to fix all problems. In fact, he remains hopeful Smith-Njigba can come back sooner to kickstart his season.

“We’re hoping to get him back this weekend,” said Day. “But, again, it’s just so hard to tell. We can come in today and say, ‘he had a little bit of a setback’ or ‘he’s really doing good and he’s trending to play on Saturday.’ So when I say day-to-day, that’s kind of how it is. With the style of injury he has, it can kind of go that way. It can linger or it can get better quick. So we’re hoping it’s the later of the two.”