Ohio State helmet

When the Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon in a top-15 matchup, they’ll be doing it without one of their best players as wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has been ruled out of the game.

According to Austin Ward of Rivals.com, Jaxon Smith-Njigba was listed as “unavailable” on Ohio State’s pregame availability report, keeping Smith-Njigba out of his fifth game so far this season. The star receiver initially suffered a hamstring injury during the first series of the season-opening win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and hasn’t played consistently since.

Smith-Njigba returned from the injury during last week’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes, but he appeared to re-aggravate that injury in the game. Ward reports that Smith-Njigba is now out indefinitely and was not on campus at practice this week as he sought outside medical opinions while still trying to return for the Buckeyes this season. However, Ward also notes that his return this season might not be possible, given his latest setback.

It’s a huge update to one of college football’s top players, and the college football world had plenty to say about it on Twitter.

Even without Smith-Njigba, who entered the 2022 season as the top returning receiver in the country, Ohio State still has undoubtedly the top offense in college football. However, it is still an unfortunate update for Smith-Njigba as his final college season is not going according to plan.

[Rivals]