Tyleik Williams injury update: Ryan Day declares Ohio State DT day-to-day

Ohio State defeated Marshall, 49-14, Saturday at home without senior defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, who missed the game with an undisclosed injury.

“Tyleik will be day-to-day,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said postgame. “I don’t know when we’ll have an update there, but he’s day-to-day.”

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Williams is one of the 11 draft-eligible and starter-level players who put his NFL dreams on pause and returned to Ohio State for the 2024 season. He had totaled nine tackles, including 1.5 sacks, in the first two games of the year, as well as four pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

In 2023, the 6-foot-3, 327-pound defensive tackle mounted 54 total tackles — he combined for 37 his first two years at Ohio State — not to mention his 10.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and five passes defended, plus a fumble recovery for a touchdown he recorded against Western Kentucky in Week 3. Maybe most notably, Williams upped his snap count significantly, playing 645 defensive snaps last season, according to PFF. He had notched 251 and 183 defensive snaps in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

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Williams played 40 defensive snaps against Akron in this year’s opener and 30 more the following week against Western Michigan, per PFF. But because the Manassas, Virginia, native was sidelined this past weekend — and because it was a summer-like, heat-intensive day in the Horseshoe — Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson had to unfurl his defensive line rotation.

Redshirt junior Tywone Malone played 28 defensive snaps. Redshirt sophomore Hero Kanu, who started in place of Williams, was in for 26 defensive snaps. Sophomore Kayden McDonald logged 22 defensive snaps. And redshirt freshman Jason Moore notched 14 defensive snaps.

Those snap counts were all career highs, according to PFF.

“Oh, yeah, it changes a lot,” Buckeyes “nickel” cornerback Jordan Hancock said postgame of Williams’ absence. “Tyleik, he’s a great football player, pass rusher, run stuffer.

“But we got young dudes coming in there, like Hero and K-Mac, you know, that’s one of my guys over there. So we got them making plays, and I feel like they did an excellent job today.”

Perhaps the most impactful member of that interior defensive line rotation, outside of everyday starter Ty Hamilton, was Malone. He registered three tackles, including a fourth quarter TFL. Plus, on a 4th-and-1 with the game tied at 7-7, Marshall quarterback Stone Earle slipped short of the sticks — if he didn’t, Malone was there for the stop, anyway.

Except on a day when Ohio State gave up two first-half touchdowns and 203 first-half yards to an “Air Raid” Marshall offense that centered around the dual threat Earle, Williams was missed.

“Yeah, I got to watch it and figure it out,” Day said, when asked postgame for his impression of the interior defensive line’s play. “I feel like a mixed bag kind of coming out of the game. Some good play in there. But there was some other things that I think, you know, we’re going to look at and want to get fixed.

“So kind of wait till the film and get some more feedback from the defensive coaches on exactly how some of those should have been fit.”

Ohio State opens Big Ten play this week at Michigan State, where the Buckeyes will face another athletic quarterback in Aidan Chiles. Getting Williams back would help, but, as Day said Saturday, the senior defensive tackle is “day-to-day” right now.