Ohio State Football: OSU can’t rely on Jaxon Smith-Njigba down stretch

The Ohio State football team took care of business and embarrassed the Iowa Hawkeyes 54-10 on Saturday. But the major concern leaving the game is Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s health.

The Ohio State football team and head coach Ryan Day avenged the 2017 loss to Iowa with a dominant 54-10 win on Saturday afternoon in Ohio Stadium. While the first half was a little clunky to start, the Buckeyes found their stride in the second half to pull away with an easy victory.

But it was in the second quarter when receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba limped off the field, down the sideline to the bench area that had fans concerned after the win. JSN, who has missed most of the season with a hamstring injury, was on a pitch count and scheduled to leave the game anyways according to Ryan Day, via the Columbus Dispatch:

"“He was right in that range,” Day said, “and once he got to that number on that drive, that was it.”"

Now I’m not saying Ryan Day is lying about JSN being on a snap count, but I am saying that he’s lying about him being pulled from the game when he was. Smith-Njigba was visibly hurt on his last play, a fade down the sideline that soared over his head.

This is the third time that JSN has tried to come back from this nagging hamstring injury that he suffered Week One against Notre Dame. And every time he’s tried to come back, there’s been a setback.

I believe it’s time for Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to start planning for the stretch run to be without its star receiver. He can’t quite get over this injury and it appears that it’s going to be with him all season long.

Not to say that a healthy JSN wouldn’t make this elite offense that much better, but C.J. Stroud and his current receiver corps seemed to have found a nice rhythm with each other with Jaxon out. And with big games like Penn State and Michigan left on the schedule, I don’t think it would be wise for Day to try and work back a 75 percent healthy JSN against them.

The Buckeyes should sit JSN next week against the Nittany Lions and try again against Northwestern and Indiana in a few weeks. Hopefully, he gets healed up and can get through those games healthy so he’s at full go against the Wolverines.