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Buckeyes Get Good Injury News on Most Important Defender for Saturday
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- Buckeyes Get Good Injury News on Most Important Defender for Saturday
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
It's rare that a true freshman quickly becomes the most important player on a side of the ball, but Jay Timmons has become just that for the Buckeyes this year.
He quickly became the missing piece for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who desperately needed someone on the other side of Devin Sanchez in the defensive secondary to lock down the other side of the field. Many thought that player would come in the form of a veteran player, but lo and behold, i t came from a guy who was getting ready for the high school playoffs one year ago today.
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If his impact wasn't directly obvious, all you need to do is look at the time that he has missed and what the result has been for the Buckeyes. He missed the second half of the game against Texas, the fourth quarter against Indiana, and the entire USC game.
Notice a trend?
The times that the Buckeyes' defense has looked its worst are when the freshman wasn't on the field.
Now, the good news for the Buckeyes is that he is not carrying an injury designation into this weekend's game against the Oregon Ducks, and he should be good to go. This is a massive development for the Buckeyes, who got torched by the USC offense last week.
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The Ducks are going to be rightfully carrying some confidence into this game for a couple of reasons. They are objectively playing better football, and their trend line is pointing up. Last week against Northwestern was an incredibly impressive performance by the Ducks as they took down a really good Northwestern team.
Granted, it was a home game, but if that team didn't have any heart or pride left, they would have laid down. Instead, they fought their tails off for the win.
The second reason why they are going to be confident is because of the common opponent that they share in USC. The Ducks got one half of the game with their starting quarterback, and then Dylan Raiola came into the game, and they didn't skip a beat.
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They were able to beat USC in the same place that the Buckeyes got blitzed last Saturday night.
Ohio State needed a bit of good news heading into this critically important game, and they got it with the news that Jay Timmons is going to be back and available for the Ohio State defense.
He has become the most important player on that side of the ball, and he will have the chance to prove it and show it again on Saturday against Oregon.
