On Tuesday night, reports started to surface on social media that Ohio State football center Seth McLaughlin tore his achilles in practice. McLaughlin transferred to the Buckeyes from Alabama this offseason, and he has been a crucial part of this Ohio State offensive line. Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day met with the media on Wednesday night and he did confirm that McLaughlin did indeed tear his achilles.
“Seth [McLaughlin] tore his achilles on a non-contact injury,” Ryan Day said, according to a video from Dillon Davis. “Crushed for Seth, our team, but we you know, once that wears off, we’re gonna move on, and you get that next man up mentality. …We’ll make adjustments. We’ll move Carson [Hinzman] to center and Austin [Siereveld] to left guard and those guys were there today, got a very good practice, very spirited practice. Will [Howard] did a great job after that went down yesterday and then even today.”
This is obviously an incredibly unfortunate injury for the Ohio State football team as Seth McLaughlin is a key player, and it isn’t their first big injury on the o-line this year. Still, Ryan Day is excited for new guys to have the opportunity to step up.
“Excited for those guys to get in there and have a great game,” Day continued. “It was a great opportunity for those guys. They both played a lot of football, won a lot of games with Carson from at center and Austin’s played so, you know, it’s like a body blow when something like that happens. Seth means a lot to this team and what he’s done since he’s been here, you know, we’ll talk about that in another moment, but we’re going to move on and focus on the future and focus on the guys that will be in the game.”
It’s next man up for Ohio State
Seth McLaughlin isn’t the first offensive lineman that has gone down this season for the Ohio State football team. Josh Simmons is also done for the season with an injury, and Donovan Jackson says that there was a message sent to the entire OL room after that happened.
“We told the younger guys, or guys who weren’t quite in the starting role, that some of y’all need to change your mindset,” Donovan Jackson said. “It’s not just a starting five. Y’all didn’t have the mindset yet. It’s like you all have to play. So I would say that the younger guys have been practicing harder. They’ve been improving at a fast rate, but it sucks what happened, you know. You never wish on anybody, especially a guy, first of all, man of that caliber, a player of that caliber, and we’re all praying for him. And, you know, for a speedy recovery of course, but you know, it’s kind of next man up, and we all wear block o’s on our chest for a reason, you know, we’re not here for a free vacation. We’re here for football. So guys need to get going, and the guys who are going are… we’re all confident in what they can do. And now we just gotta put it on the field.”
Now, another devastating injury has occurred, and the next guy has to be ready.
Ohio State will play its first game without McLaughlin this weekend, and it’s a big one as the Buckeyes are taking on #5 Indiana. Ohio State and Indiana will kick off at noon ET from Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Saturday, and the game will be airing on Fox. The Buckeyes are currently favored by 13.5 points.
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