Ohio State Will Be Without Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cameron Brown, 10 Total Players

Star wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba and starting corner Cameron Brown have both been ruled out of Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. matchup with Wisconsin, as 10 total Ohio State players will be unavailable against the Badgers.

A hamstring injury suffered against Notre Dame limited Smith-Njigba to just 15 snaps in the season opener, and the junior didn’t play at all in Ohio State’s Week 2 meeting with Arkansas State. Smith-Njigba returned against Toledo, but caught just two passes and didn’t play at all in the second half.

Ryan Day was hopeful this week that Smith-Njigba would be full-go against the Badgers, but Ohio State’s 2021 receiving leader won’t suit up after all.

Brown, who started each of the first three games of the season for Ohio State, played just 17 snaps against Toledo before heading to the locker room with an apparent injury in the first half. The Buckeyes will also be without second-year corner Jordan Hancock, who has yet to log a defensive snap this season after suffering a preseason injury that Day has called “significant.” Their injuries leave Ohio State with just four available scholarship cornerbacks: Denzel Burke, JK Johnson, Jyaire Brown and Ryan Turner.

On the bright side for the Buckeyes, several players who either didn’t play last week or left with injury appear to be available against Wisconsin. That list includes starting defenders Josh Proctor, Tanner McCalister and Mike Hall Jr. as well as starting running back TreVeyon Henderson, who left the Toledo game in a walking boot after suffering an injury on Ohio State’s opening drive.

Kamryn Babb, Teradja Mitchell and Joe Royer all join Smith-Njigba, Brown and Hancock among the 10 unavailable Buckeyes. Ohio State did not list any players as game-time decisions ahead of its first conference contest.

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