Ohio State is going to be missing another key offensive plaumaker for extended time at a crucial part of the schedule.
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day delivered tough news Tuesday evening when he announced Julian Sayin is expected to miss the rest of the regular season and potentially the postseason. That's not the only bad news to hit the Buckeyes early in the bye week, though. Another Ohio State football injury update has surfaced, and this one involves the running back room.
Senior RB Ja'Kobi Jackson suffered an injury in the win over the Maryland Terrapins a couple of weeks ago. It now appears that injury will keep him off the field for some extended time.
According to Eleven Warriors , Jackson underwent surgery for a Lisfranc injury in his foot. He hopes to be back for Ohio State's regular-season finale against the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 28 in Columbus.
Jackson has already missed two games. Based on that reported timeline, he will also be sidelined for matchups against USC, Oregon, Northwestern, Western, and Nebraska at a minimum. That's a tough stretch of the schedule to be without one of your most productive ball carriers.
The seventh-year transfer from Florida is the second-leading rusher for the Buckeyes this season. Jackson has 354 rushing yards on six yards per carry, and he has found the end zone six times. He had 14 carries in each of his last two games against Maryland and Iowa, and he went over 70 yards in both of them.
Jackson wasn't the clear-cut starter coming into the year, but he had gotten the start over Bo Jackson in each of those last two games. He looked like he could have been gaining ground to take over the RB1 job before the injury.
With Jacoby Jackson out, the load shifts to Bo Jackson. Ohio State played Bo Jackson a career-high 52 snaps against Indiana last week, and the Buckeyes are set to rely on him heavily over the next few weeks.
Bo Jackson won't be doing it alone, however. Ohio State is also going to have to mix in Isaiah West and freshman RB Legend Bey. Both backs saw the field against Indiana, and that should continue for the rest of the regular season.
Losing Sayin was already a major blow for Ohio State . Losing a productive back like Ja'Kobi Jackson on top of it makes the road ahead even tougher, especially with games against USC and Oregon coming out of the bye week.
The good news is the bye week gives Ohio State's coaching staff a little extra time to figure out how to split the carries between Bo Jackson, West, and Bey. How that rotation shakes out will tell us a lot about what the Buckeyes' offense looks like in November.
If Ja'Kobi Jackson's recovery goes according to plan, Ohio State could get a key piece of its offense back for the Michigan game. Until then, the rest of the backfield will need to step up. The coming weeks will show whether the Buckeyes have enough depth to weather another tough blow.
This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Ohio State football dealt another tough injury blow aside from the Julian Sayin news during bye week
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