Chase Young, Jonathon Cooper, more return for Ohio State against Penn State

After seemingly anybody who had even thought that they might potentially be injured at some point during this calendar year sat out in the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes’ 56-21 over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights last Saturday, the majority of contributors will be back on the field when the Buckeyes take to the Ohio Stadium field for the final time this season as they welcome the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions at 12 noon ET.

After being in and out all year, senior captain Jonathon Cooper will return to his starting defensive end spot, as will Chase Young having served his two-game suspension from the NCAA for being a good boyfriend and helping his girlfriend fly to California to see the Rose Bowl. Cooper is listed as the first player in an “OR” starting situation with true-freshman Zach Harrison.

Last week, wide receiver Austin Mack and “back up” middle linebacker Baron Browning were held out of action, they will both return this weekend, but neither are listed as the starter. Well, technically Mack is listed as a co-starter at the Z position, but Chris Olave’s name appears first; so make of that what you will.

Browning is not included anywhere on the depth chart, but I would venture to guess that this is a typographical error as he does not appear on the list of players that are out for the contest either. I would assume that he will be seeing a good portion of the snaps at middle linebacker tomorrow.

UPDATE: Ohio State SID Jerry Emig has confirmed that Browning should have been listed as the co-starter at middle linebacker.

Reserve safety Josh Proctor and third-string running back Marcus Crowley are the two significant additions to the unavailable list this week. While neither is a starter, both have played decent minutes coming off of the bench, especially Proctor following the transfer of Isaiah Pryor.

The game-time decisions this week will include backup offensive linemen Joshua Alabi and Matthew Jones — both of whom sat out against Rutgers — and reserve defensive tackle Haskell Garrett.

The other players that will miss this week’s contest against the Nits are wide receiver Kamryn Babb, offensive guard Gavin Cupp, defensive tackle Noah Donald, wide receiver Elijah Gardiner, safety Ronnie Hickman, offensive lineman Brett Novick, H-back C.J. Saunders, and defensive tackle Taron Vincent.