On Tuesday night, reports began to surface that one of Ohio State’s most important players had suffered a season-ending injury. On Wednesday evening, Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day confirmed the unfortunate news.
During his press conference on Wednesday evening, Ryan Day confirmed that Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin suffered an Achilles tear that will sideline him for the rest of the season.
“Seth tore his Achilles on a non-contact injury. Crushed for Seth and our team. Once that wears off, you gotta move on. Next man up mentality,” Day said according to Chase Brown of Eleven Warriors.
Day also discussed the plan to replace McLaughlin by moving left guard Carson Hinzman to center and inserting sophomore Austin Siereveld into the lineup at left guard.
“We’ll make adjustments. We’ll move Carson (Hinzman) to center and Austin (Siereveld) to left guard,” Day said.
Hinzman actually started at center for Ohio State last year but he was replaced during the offseason when the Buckeyes signed McLaughlin from the transfer portal after his departure from the Alabama Crimson Tide.
This is actually the second injury to a starting offensive lineman that the Buckeyes have had to deal with after starting left tackle Josh Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier in the season.
When Simmons went down, Ohio State inserted Hinzman back into the lineup at left guard and moved former starting left guard Donovan Jackson to left tackle.
As a result of these two injuries, only two offensive linemen are playing their original positions on the Ohio State offensive line this season.
Needless to say, this is a pretty horrible situation for the Buckeyes to have to deal with just days before a top-five matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers.
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