After Lathan Ransom missed the Nebraska game on Saturday, there’s cautious optimism the veteran safety could return to the lineup for Ohio State’s matchup with Penn State.
In his Tuesday press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said the Buckeyes expect Ransom to have a full week of practice leading up to the game in State College.
“We’re excited to get a full week of practice out of Lathan,” Day said. “We’ll kind of see, again, how the week goes for him.”
Day said it was good to see Ohio State build depth in the back end with Ransom sidelined in the Buckeyes’ win over the Cornhuskers. He mentioned freshman Jordan Hancock, Jermaine Mathews Jr., Lorenzo Styles Jr. and Jaylen McClain as the players who stood out with their added reps.
“For Jordan Hancock to move into another position going into last week’s game with a week of preparation I thought was excellent. We do have some flexibility there in moving him around,” Day said. “I thought Lorenzo Styles and Jermaine played well. Both graded out (as champions). That was good to see because, obviously, the depth back there was a little bit of a concern. Jaylen McClain gave us some quality reps back there.
“Now, we’ll go into this game – and, now, with Lathan coming back – we’ll kind of figure out what that looks like going into it.”
Earlier in the press conference, Day said Ohio State has been looking forward to the Penn State game all season. Whether or not Ransom is available for the top-five showdown, Day said the Buckeyes need to be prepared for a four-quarter battle in State College.
“Just like the Oregon game was, this game has been circled on our schedule. We know what’s at stake here,” he said. “We’re gonna go into that environment and finish the way we didn’t (finish) two weeks ago. We have another opportunity to do that in this game. We got to go finish and win the game in the fourth quarter. We know it’s gonna take four quarters to win this game. It always does when you go play in this environment. It’s a very difficult environment to play in, but we’ve been in this situation before. Now it’s time to go win this game and get a top-five victory. … Everybody in the building is focused on winning this game right here.”
