Ohio State Football: Star safety could be out “long term”

The Ohio State football team could be without one of its best defenders for the rest of the season. Lathan Ransom’s injury could be long-term.

The Ohio State football team dominated Michigan State on Saturday evening in blowout fashion. The 38-3 score does not represent the type of dominance that was on display for the Buckeyes. But as things went great on the field, Ohio State fans received some unwelcomed news off of it as star safety Lahan Ransom’s season could be over.

Ransom was carted off the field during the Wisconsin game with an apparent foot injury. He was seen on the Buckeye sideline in a scooter on Saturday night and Ryan Day confirmed after the game that his injury could be long-term in nature.

This is awful news for the Buckeye defense as they are less than two weeks away from the biggest game of the season up in Ann Arbor. Ransom was having a breakout year at safety and was clearly the glue that helped keep the backend together.

Without him, expect to see a lot more of Sonny Styles playing a deep safety role, with corner Jordan Hancock keeping the slot position in check. True freshman Malik Hartford could also see some extended playing time as he did last night, filling in for an injured Josh Proctor.

In other injury news, Day said that he expects both Proctor and linebacker Tommy Eichenberg back soon so at least not all the news is bad on the injury front.

Day smartly got his top players out of the game last night early in the third quarter when the game was in hand. There is no need to play Ohio State’s top personnel in meaningless snaps, especially being so close to Michigan week. Hopefully, the Buckeyes can get through the Minnesota game next week injury-free and then it on to the Wolverines.