OSU Jaxon Smith-Njigba skip playoffs and enter NFL draft
Pretty odd here, I think they all thought he'd be back for playoff
December 5th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
Are you kidding me? I was at the B1G championship game on Saturday and stayed down at the tunnel until the 2nd to last player came through (Ronnie Bell was doing Ronnie Bell things and signing every autograph for fans). There was not a single player that looked like they are losing interest. The only team right now that seems to be losing interest in Ohio State but that is probably because they know they do not have a chance to actually win it all.
December 5th, 2022 at 3:11 PM ^
Well, to be fair, they do have a CHANCE. It's just based around the chance that Georgia overlooks them, but that won't happen. They might overlook us or TCU, but OSU will get their full attention. Kirby is a sociopath
December 5th, 2022 at 3:44 PM ^
You stayed around the tunnel at a Michigan game? Thoughts and prayers, I hope you survived.
December 5th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Was that tunnel as mean and nasty as the Michigan tunnel? Did it hit anyone over the head with a helmet? Asking for a friend, er, coach.
December 5th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that OSU's medical staff told him they weren't sure he'd be 100% ready by the time of the semifinals, or even close enough to where he could be productive. If he didn't take any bad hits, maybe he'd be okay, but you can't realistically ask for that in the game of football.
He's a top-10 pick in next year's draft as it stands right now. Possibly top-5, and while I'm sure he wants to play, if he can't be sure that he won't re-aggravate the injury or make it even worse, he's risking a lot of money by stepping onto that field.
Definitely odd because I'm sure he's the first player who would've opted out of a playoff game, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it was for a good reason.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:21 PM ^
Could it be that he hasn't been playing school since the re-injurying after the Iowa gme? He may have been already been preparing for the draft since being reinjured. Perhaps rehabbing away from campus. The way Day addressed it with the media seemed like he knew already. This was just a formality. Let JSN announce his availability (or lack thereof) on his own terms. I have no insider info.
December 5th, 2022 at 5:11 PM ^
Ryan Day and coaches have obviously been downplaying his hamstring injury all season. Sucks that it happened on arguably a late hit in the Notre Dame game, but also sucks they tried to rush him back against Iowa, only for him to re-aggravate it.
It is a smart decision. It is likely that the medical staff isn't confident that he can practice leading up to the playoff anyways, so in all likelihood, if he could even play at 70-80% capacity, it would have to be out-of-condition, and with minimal prep.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
Why come back for 1 game and get smoked to risk injury? He will be better off preparing for the draft and healing that hammy
December 5th, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
Exactly.
He's been out nearly all season, so this makes sense. People are acting like it's someone who's been on the field most of the season opt-ing out of the playoff.
If he wasn't healthy enough to try in The Game, it makes sense that he's pretty much been shut down for the season.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:57 PM ^
Or that he basically already opted out for the season at some point (a la Bosa)
Who knows, and it's probably somewhere in between
December 5th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
I don't think it is that odd. I think it is similar to Corum's decision. I hope that Morris does not make a similar decision.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
What Corum decision? He hasn't ruled himself out of anything.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:45 PM ^
Ok, I agree with you that he hasn't completely ruled himself out. But 5 weeks for recovery from meniscus surgery is really really tight.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:57 PM ^
Corum didn't make a decision. He clearly couldn't play until he had surgery, so he got surgery
December 5th, 2022 at 3:00 PM ^
That is speculation too.
Everybody is getting way too defensive. Somebody said on some website that "we may have not seen the last of Blake Corum for the year." Ok. That is a piece of evidence. On the other hand, he released a statement that says he is having season ending knee surgery, and six weeks is basically the recovery time for pretty much all scopes. That is strong evidence the other way. Is it possible that Corum plays? Sure. Is it likely? No. No it isn't.
December 5th, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
It was a tweet, and if anyone read the next tweet by the same guy, he said that he might have been wrong about that after learning more info.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:28 PM ^
Nobody's defensive. You came out and claimed Corum had "made a decision" as if he had posted publicly that he is definitely not participating in playoffs. This simply isn't true.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:55 PM ^
There is no evidence to indicate that Corum is playing in the Playoff, and strong evidence that he isn’t.
December 5th, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
So what? That's entirely different from Corum making the decision now to keep himself out. Why is this hard?
December 5th, 2022 at 5:46 PM ^
Corum's situation is in no way comparable to JSN's (nor is Mike Morris'), and you continuing to insist otherwise is absurd. Why is this hard?
December 5th, 2022 at 2:53 PM ^
Except that Corum tried to play (and did play slightly) against OSU.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
That's one player thuh Ohio State University won't be getting back from injury against GA, then. Did he actually play at all this year?
December 5th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
Yes. He played very early in the season.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
He was injured in the Notre Dame game, right?
December 5th, 2022 at 4:02 PM ^
As far as I remember: hurt against Notre Dame, then had little luck with "pitch count" games against Toledo and Iowa.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:06 PM ^
He played against Notre Dame, Toledo, and Iowa.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
No point in risking getting hurt again ..
December 5th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
Rivalry aside, smart move. I wonder if we will see this more or longer ‘cautionary dnp’s’ before the playoffs like what we did against Illinois and osu did against Maryland.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
I know they were hoping he would be back, but the tweet says he will "continue to rehabilitate a season-long injury". It's not clear if he's skipping the playoffs or just not ready to play. Anyone know more about the status of his injury situation?
December 5th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
Funny how the narrative turned so quickly on osu once they made the playoff. Last year the excuse was the weather - now its injuries?
"Now they can get their healthy bodies back and be a formidable force."
"OSU's defense was much improved."
Then the claim that "outside of Michigan's 5 big plays" they really did a good job.
What in the actual f are they watching?
Sell sell sell! ESPN has nothing to talk about so they just talk through every story line, plausible or not.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:49 PM ^
Years ago, I had a shitty sales manager. After a really good sales year, taking over a territory after someone's horrible results the year before, I finished the year at 125% of quota. That manager looked at my results and said: "take out these 5 projects, and you're below quota". No lie, and he was from Ohio.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:49 PM ^
"We won the game if you just take away all of their touchdown-scoring plays!"...is some Olympic level mental gymnastics.
And I'm married to Jennifer Love Hewitt if you take away her husband and my wife, give me a lot of extra charm and good looks, and put us in a room together in 2007 where I can tell her that Ghost Whisperer is a good TV show and that 'Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties' wasn't her fault. Also we're both werewolves like Josh and Nora in Being Human.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:09 PM ^
Serious mental gymnastics are required to excuse their loss when:
- We played at their house,
- Beat their ass by 20+,
- In perfect weather,
- With our best defensive player out with injury, and
- Our best overall player out with injury.
December 5th, 2022 at 5:54 PM ^
Outstanding summary but I prefer to go with more than three scores (21+) which means that 3, blinking three of the big plays weren't even necessary to pull out the win.
December 5th, 2022 at 9:35 PM ^
Don’t forget we had our top TWO backs out and our best offensive player also . And we ran a running back who has been on special teams and was a linebacker until the week of The Game . Why we didn’t run the freshman running back is a mystery. Blame that on Day
December 5th, 2022 at 9:52 PM ^
Any of those guys play in your secondary?
Look, neither team was at full strength. That’s not uncommon, 12 games into the season. That doesn’t excuse a three-touchdown loss at home.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
Oh thank god. I've seen enough of him in college football.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
He's been hurt almost all year and so at best he limps around against Georgia, gets hurt again, and hurts his draft stock. See, this makes a ton of sense to me and my guess is it's not a surprise to OSU either.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
I mean probably the best idea for him? But if he was able to go, you would think he would for a playoff run. But if he's not 100%, then pass it up, get ready to go full go for the combine and pro-day.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
He wasn’t medically cleared by his doctors to participate.
December 5th, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
They should say that then so that the poor guy does not look like some NFL-in-waiting mercenary, just killing time in college.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:45 PM ^
The guy has been out all year possibly with some nagging injuries.
At the end of the day he is shutting it down to prep for the NFL and protect himself to get paid.
I understand it but I probably would not walk away from the opportunity to make a run with my teammates.
December 5th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
He actually played in three games. He was injured early in the season, came back against Iowa, and either reinjured himself or just couldn't go normally.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:46 PM ^
The crazy thing is that last year, they had Olave and Wilson who are having pretty good rookie years in the NFL. Of that trio, he was widely considered the best one. Then he gets hurt this year and would now be the 2nd best wr they have. It's crazy how good Harrison is.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:55 PM ^
They are different but I think JSN is more impactful player. The guy is truly off the charts unique out of the slot.
December 5th, 2022 at 6:01 PM ^
Especially since most teams' slot defender is not their best defender.
Except Michigan. Ours is fantastic.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:46 PM ^
Anyway good luck to him in the NFL.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:47 PM ^
I just dont think osu is mentally ready for this game. Michigan took their hearts in the 2nd half of the game. They have a month to prepare but 2 weeks ago those fans were chanting "Urban" and wondering who their next QB will be. They most likely had their lockers cleared out thinking they were not getting in the playoff, because you know their NFL guys were going to skip the bowl game anyway.
They are going to get blasted by UGA with or without JSN.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
This is kind of why I thought Alabama would have been the better pick. OSU is checked out. Bama v. Georgia would have been a hell of a semi final and it was clear that Bama wanted to be in.
December 5th, 2022 at 3:14 PM ^
Saban wanted in. I didn't see a poll of the players.