Ohio State will be without one of its wide receivers for the remainder of the season.
Senior wideout Corey Smith left Saturday's 34-27 win over Indiana to a leg injury and did not return after being carted off the field. Monday, head coach Urban Meyer said that Smith will be out for the year, also saying that the injury was similar to the one suffered by sophomore wideout Noah Brown in the preseason. Brown suffered a broken leg during the team's fall camp.
"He had a similar injury to Noah Brown," Meyer said. "And one of my favorite players, a guy that's been through a lot in his life, certainly a lot here, but my heart bleeds for that guy and so do the rest of our team, a kid that really spills it — was on all special teams for us, played really, really hard. From what I understand there's a chance we can get one more year back. We're going to see what happens."
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Smith was one of the players suspended for the season-opening win over Virginia Tech. After coming back, he caught five passes for 62 yards in four games.
With Smith and Brown out for the year, the Buckeyes are thin at the receiver position. Michael Thomas is the only true wide receiver among the Buckeyes' top pass-catchers, though Jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel are listed as starters at wideout. Then there's Braxton Miller and Dontre Wilson, listed as H-backs. Couple all that with the offseason losses of Devin Smith and Evan Spencer, and there's not much true-wideout experience.
Smith is in his second season with the Ohio State program after catching 20 passes last season, and like Meyer mentioned, he will try to get a medical redshirt so he can play again next season.