Donovan Jackson didn’t like being told he couldn’t play in Ohio State’s first two games of the year, but he knew that decision was made for his own good.
The Ohio State left guard confirmed Wednesday that he was sidelined by a hamstring injury, as was initially reported during FOX’s broadcast of last weekend’s game against Marshall, that he suffered during preseason camp.
“You overstride a little bit one way and then your hamstring goes another way and that's kind of what happened to me,” Jackson said.
As soon as Jackson suffered the injury, he started thinking about how he could get back on the field as quickly as possible. Ohio State’s medical staff couldn’t give him a timeline for how long it would take to return, however, due to the nature of his injury.
“With those soft tissue injuries, you can do all you can in terms of treatment, but at the end of the day, your body is recovering on its own. Which is, for me, it was the most frustrating part because I was probably living in the training room at one point, just trying to work it back, trying to get it to the point where I can move, pull,” Jackson recalled. “There was kind of a moment of like, ‘Okay, like, how long is it going to take?’ and then everyone was like, ‘It's a hamstring, dude. Like, we don't know, like, everyone's body heals differently.”
Jackson felt like he could have played in Ohio State’s first two games of the year, but the medical staff felt that it was smart for him not to play until after the Buckeyes’ first bye week so that he would have ample time to recover. The Buckeyes had good reason to be cautious; they were playing Akron and Western Michigan, two teams they easily beat without Jackson. They had to look back only two years for an example of an Ohio State player (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) having his entire season derailed by coming back too quickly from a hamstring injury.
That didn’t stop Jackson from pleading his case to Ryan Day that he could play, though.
“I understood that it probably wasn't best for me to play, but that didn't take back from my want to be out there in the game,” Jackson said. “I thought I was good to go, and a lot of people told me I wasn't, and I was like, ‘What do you mean? I'm fine.’ And then Coach Day had to talk me off the cliff a little bit, but it's just trying to protect me from myself.
“I’m blessed with the opportunity to play a lot of ball this year, and so, he was just like, ‘Look, man, let's calm down for these weeks, and we'll get you back after the bye.’ But I wasn't the most happy camper in the world for a good minute there. But it is what it is, we're playing football again.”
What made it especially hard for Jackson to accept that he wouldn’t play in the first two games was knowing he’s in his final season as a Buckeye. As a senior, Jackson is embracing every last opportunity he has to play for the Scarlet and Gray. After missing out on two of his eight opportunities to play in Ohio Stadium this season, Jackson isn’t taking any game for granted now.
“As a senior, I know I only have a limited amount of opportunities left to play in the Horseshoe,” Jackson said. “So just running out of the tunnel, I’d never say I take the game for granted, but knowing that the number of times I have to do that is dwindling down kind of weighed on me those first few games, and so, just playing the game to the highest level as fast as I can, and just taking it all in in the moment.”
“I understood that it probably wasn't best for me to play, but that didn't take back from my want to be out there in the game.”– Donovan Jackson on being held out of Ohio State’s first two games with a hamstring injury
Jackson said he feels “great” now, and he certainly didn’t seem to be suffering any lingering effects from the injury in his first game back. He received the highest Pro Football Focus grade (86.6) of any Ohio State player against Marshall as he allowed zero quarterback pressures and helped lead the way up front for the Buckeyes to score 49 points on 569 yards, including 280 rushing yards on just 31 carries.
Day thought the return of Jackson, a first-team All-Big Ten guard in both 2022 and 2023, enabled the offensive line to elevate its game to another level in its third game of the season.
“He graded out a champion. We didn't have a whole bunch of plays in the game – some explosive plays, some shorter drives – but I think there was a confidence across the board having him in there,” Day said. “Not that Austin (Siereveld, who started Ohio State’s first two games at left guard in Jackson’s place) didn't do a nice job when he was in there, but you know, we're talking about one of the better players in college football, and I think that across the board, up front, the communication was much better. I thought there was some cohesiveness, guys finishing downfield, so good to have him back in the mix.”
While Siereveld played well enough in Jackson’s absence that he’s now taking some snaps from Tegra Tshabola in the right guard rotation, and well enough that left tackle Josh Simmons said he “didn’t skip a beat” with Siereveld playing next to him, Simmons says “it makes a big difference” having Jackson back on the field.
“A guy who's played here so long, knows the offense in and out, is a really big culture piece in not only our unit but here at Ohio State, so having him back on the line, let alone playing next to him is amazing for us,” Simmons said of Jackson.
