Ohio State releases availability report, depth chart for Florida Atlantic

As promised, on Friday morning the Ohio State football team released the first depth chart and availability report of the season ahead of Saturday’s game against the Florida Atlantic Owls. After consultation with the university, team doctors, and the athletic department, new head coach Ryan Day decided that he would reverse course on Urban Meyer’s practice of transparency when it came to injuries, and would not discuss them with the media. Instead the team will be releasing the “out” and “game-time decision” information for each game on Friday.

This week, sophomore defensive tackle Taron Vincent, senior captain wide receiver C.J. Saunders, senior tight end Rashod Berry, and senior captain defensive end Jonathon Cooper have been ruled out due to injuries.

Cooper was expected, but one player that was thought to potentially be on the list was senior wide receiver Austin Mack who has been rumored to be dealing with nagging injuries throughout camp. However, he is not included on either of the lists, so it appears that Justin Fields will have his full compliment of receivers for his first game as OSU’s starter. Mack is listed as an “or” starter opposite junior Chris Olave.

Saturday’s game-time decisions will be sophomore defensive end Tyreke Smith, junior running back Demario McCall, and sophomore defensive end Tyler Friday. McCall had earned the nod as J.K. Dobbins’ backup, but if he were to be out, redshirt freshman Master Teague and true freshmen Steele Chambers and Marcus Crowley will likely get the extra carries

On the depth chart side, graduate student Jashon Cornell is listed as the starting defensive end opposite Chase Young. Cornell had been expected to be playing tackle, but the injuries to Cooper, Smith, and Friday, apparently necessitated his move outside.

Senior Robert Landers is listed as the nose tackle starter alongside sophomore Tommy Togiai, and junior captain Tuf Borland is listed as the starting middle linebacker along with junior Baron Browning.

The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University