Ohio State will be without two significant pieces of its offense for at least some of the rest of the season.
As Ryan Day had said after Saturday’s loss to Oregon, Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons remains likely to miss the rest of the season after going down with a lower-body injury in the second quarter of Saturday’s game. Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek is also expected to miss time after suffering an injury on the opening drive in Eugene.
“Will’s probably going to be a little while,” Day said Monday while appearing on the Ohio State Sports Network’s Buckeye Roundtable show. “And like I said after the game, Josh, it’s probably a season-ending injury.”
Kacmarek suffered his injury while making a diving catch for a 32-yard gain on Ohio State’s first possession. Day did not specify what happened to Kacmarek on the play, but he appeared to be favoring his arm and did not return to the game.
With Kacmarek sidelined, Bennett Christian served as Ohio State’s No. 2 tight end behind Gee Scott Jr. for the remainder of the game. Jelani Thurman and Patrick Gurd also each played two snaps at tight end against Oregon and could potentially be candidates for increased playing time while Kacmarek remains out.
Simmons suffered his injury while pass blocking in the second quarter of Saturday’s loss. His knee seemingly gave out while he was engaged with a pass-rusher, and the injury was serious enough that he had to be carted back to the locker room.
Zen Michalski replaced Simmons at left tackle for the remainder of the game. While Day has not yet committed to Michalski as Ohio State’s starting left tackle for the rest of the season, he commended Michalski for how he played when called upon against the Ducks.
“I give Zen credit,” Day said. “Zen got put in a tough spot in a tough environment. Hasn't had a ton of career reps over there. And I thought overall, competed. And it wasn't all perfect, so we're going to need him and some of those guys to step up, for sure. Because we know that this (injuries) is going to be part of the season.”
