Ryan Day details impact of Jaxon Smith-Njigba's return for Ohio State

Ryan Day, Ohio State’s head coach, talked about the importance of having key wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba back for Saturday’s contest after an ankle injury sidelined him for five weeks.

One of the key takeaways for Day was the depth that Smith-Njigba’s return gives Ohio State.

“I think it allows us more depth there, it takes some stress off the other guys,” Day said according to On3. “If you said seven weeks ago that that was going to happen, you would’ve realized that that’s a pretty heavy burden for those guys… I think they’ve done well and benefitted from that, we all have, but getting him back will certainly take some stress off of them and we’ll be at full strength.”

Last season in his sophomore year, Smith-Njigba was a top receiver for Ohio State, picking up 1,606 yards and 9 touchdowns.

This season, Smith-Njigba has recorded 36 yards on 4 receptions in the limited amount of time he has been on the field.

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The Buckeyes are bringing Smith-Njigba back with the expectation that he might not be able to return to his former self immediately but are still hoping he can have some positive production.

“It will happen naturally, we can’t go out there and have expectations,” Day said. “We have to take what the defense is giving us.”