Three Ohio State football players to watch vs. Arkansas State

Will Jaxon Smith-Njigba play for the Ohio State football team?

Jaxon Smith-Njigba might be the best player on the Buckeyes’ roster. C.J. Stroud said so to the media recently. He had a big year in 2021 and a huge finish to that year when he set Rose Bowl records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns in that game against Utah.

In the opener against Notre Dame, more of the same was expected. Unfortunately, he got hurt in the first quarter and was not effective. He only had two catches for three yards in the game. He looked frustrated that he wasn’t able to get back into the game.

While Ryan Day hasn’t specified what the injury is exactly, we’ve been led to believe it’s a hamstring injury. Day did say that it isn’t serious and that he could play this week. How many snaps he plays is something I’m looking at. I want to see him out there for at least the first half.

I want to see him out there that long so that he can shake off whatever injury it is and get back into the swing of things in terms of playing a game. Even though Arkansas State isn’t a high-quality opponent, I’d still like to see him put up some decent numbers.

Is it the end of the world if JSN doesn’t play on Saturday? No. But it’s still something that Ohio State football fans would love to see. He needs to be ready to go for the Wisconsin game in a couple of weeks. Two tune-ups against bad teams would help that.

These are the three guys I’ll be watching from the stands on Saturday night. It will be interesting to see how they fare.