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Ryan Day addresses possibility of position change for star OL Donovan Jackson

Crissy Froyd

By Crissy Froyd

Published:

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes are considering the possibility of a position change for standout offensive lineman Donovan Jackson moving forward after the 21-17 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Jackson currently plays the role of left offensive guard for the Buckeyes.

A lot of that has to do with the way the team did not run the ball the way Day was expecting his team to. The Buckeyes tallied a mere total of 64 yards on the ground to Nebraska’s 121 rushing yards as a team. The Buckeyes were left to resort to the passing game in a lopsided manner, with the 221 yards through the air making up the majority of their 285 yards of total offense.

“It’s not good enough,” Day said after the game. “We gotta be able to run the football. We didn’t do that today. That’s why we put the defense in bad spots. That’s why we were 1-for-10 on third down and 1-for-2 on fourth downs.”

Some of the deficiencies up front had to do with the absence of starting left tackle Josh Simmons who sustained a season-ending injury vs. Oregon. Zen Michalski made his first career start in place of Simmons on Saturday and was himself injured late in the game after struggling at points against a talented Husker front.

For Day, he’s aware he’s got some decisions to make offensively, including the possibility of Jackson sliding out to left tackle moving for it. The head coach made it clear that discussing it was in the upcoming week’s plans.

“Gonna have to talk about it and figure it out,” he said. “We knew that if that happened in a game, that was our answer and solution to get out of the game. Now we’re gonna have to go back and figure out what’s next.”

Ohio State will look to correct this issue as the Buckeyes continue the season against No. 3 Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Happy Valley.

Crissy Froyd