C.J. Barnett to miss Ohio State-Buffalo game

The Ohio State depth chart just became a little thinner. Senior free safety C.J. Barnett will reportedly miss the season opener against Buffalo on Saturday due to a "lower body" injury. In Barnett's place, Corey "Pittsburgh" Brown will take over at the free safety spot. Brown is listed as the only other potential backup on the Buffalo game depth chart that was released earlier this week. There were some questions early on about the potential of true freshman Vonn Bell perhaps making his debut, but being that he wasn't featured on the depth chart this week, it seems highly unlikely.

Coming into the 2013 season, Ohio State's secondary was highly regarded as one of the strongest units on the defensive side of the ball. With this injury, the secondary is now a tad depleted with this added to the suspended Bradley Roby at cornerback. There has been no official word from Ohio State about Barnett's injury as of yet, but it has become clear that Barnett will not be playing tomorrow afternoon against the Bulls.

Multiple sources have told me that Ohio State safety C.J. Barnett will miss tomorrow's opener w/ a lower body injury http://t.co/BqC9dUTVGb

— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) August 30, 2013

UPDATE: Axelrod's report is now confirmed. Barnett is out today:

Ohio State safety C.J. Barnett not in pads. Out today.

— Doug Lesmerises (@PDBuckeyes) August 31, 2013