The Ohio State running back room won't be at full strength on Saturday.
| OSU STATUS REPORT FOR NORTHWESTERN |
|---|
| UNAVAILABLE |
|
WR JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA RB TREVEYON HENDERSON CB CAMERON BROWN S KOURT WILLIAMS RB TC CAFFEY RB EVAN PRYOR DE MITCHELL MELTON WR KAMRYN BABB CB LLOYD MCFARQUHAR LS BRADLEY ROBINSON LB JALEN PACE RB CAYDEN SAUNDERS |
Buckeye rushing leader TreVeyon Henderson is one of 12 players listed as unavailable on Ohio State's official status report ahead of the noon kickoff against Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. Henderson, who has 552 yards and six scores on 96 attempts in 2022, will miss his second full game of the year. That leaves Ohio State with just three healthy scholarship running backs for Saturday's matchup.
Henderson suffered a foot injury that sidelined him after just four carries in the Buckeyes' Week 3 meeting with Toledo, and despite returning to action the following week, Henderson sat out in Week 5. Back on the field in Week 6, Henderson's day ended early against Michigan State following a hard hit at the start of the third quarter.
Starting both games after the bye week, Henderson rushed for 116 yards and two scores on 27 carries against Iowa and Penn State. Both of those touchdowns came in the fourth quarter of last week's Ohio State win over the Nittany Lions, a contest in which Miyan Williams left with injury after just two carries.
But Williams, who leads Ohio State with 10 rushing touchdowns and an average of 6.9 yards per carry, is available to play against Northwestern's 109th-ranked rush defense in Illinois.
Ryan Day said this week he expects to see true freshman Dallan Hayden and Arizona State transfer Chip Trayanum, who switched over from linebacker to running back following a season-ending injury to walk-on TC Caffey, receive snaps in the backfield against Northwestern. Fellow walk-on running back Cayden Saunders is also out for Saturday’s game.
Running back isn't the only position group impacted by injury this week. Jaxon Smith-Njigba will miss his sixth game of the season as he deals with an ongoing hamstring injury suffered in Week 1. This is Smith-Njigba's second straight absence since returning to play for part of the first half against Iowa after the bye week.
Starting cornerback Cameron Brown will also be out of the Northwestern matchup, which will be the fifth game he's missed in 2022. Second-year defensive back JK Johnson has started each of the past two games in place of Brown at cornerback, though Jordan Hancock also saw regular snaps in the rotation opposite Denzel Burke against Penn State.
Long snapper Bradley Robinson remains unavailable after suffering a knee injury against Iowa that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season, and Buckeye captains Kourt Williams and Kamryn Babb are among the other Buckeyes who will be sidelined on Saturday.
