Ohio State has been hampered by injuries in recent weeks, with several star playmakers missing the last few games for the Buckeyes, but head coach Ryan Day is hopefully that the team will be able to welcome back a handful of limited players this week against Wisconsin.
“Got a bunch of guys back (in practice), which is great,” Day said Wednesday. “There still will be some different things here and there, but no, it certainly does help. It’s hard when you go through a week and you’re not quite sure. You put things in, you take things take things out.
“But we feel like we’ve had a good week of practice. We’re gonna get some guys back this week, which we feel great about. It has been a solid week of practice coming off the field, you know, so the pads are off. We’re going to have a great Thursday. Looking forward to getting some guys back into the fold.”
Ohio State has been without leading rusher TreVeyon Henderson for the last three games, while wideout Emeka Egbuka has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury. The Buckeyes are also hoping to see the return of cornerback Denzel Burke, who was out against Penn State with an undisclosed injury.
Day added during his radio show on Thursday that Henderson is expected to be “full-go” against Wisconsin, adding that the running back had a “really good week of practice.”
Those would all be welcome returns for the Buckeyes, who are set to travel to the Badgers’ Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday for a primetime kickoff on NBC. While some of the shine has come off the game with an injury to Wisconsin starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai, not to mention a couple of surprising losses for the Badgers earlier this season, but Day and the team are not taking this one lightly.
“We know this is going to be a big challenge,” he said. “We know it’s going to be rocking there, and they have a very good team. They’re well coached. We have to play our best football and our goal was to play our best football at the end of the season. We’ve got to show up and play consistent football the way that I think we have this year.
“We have been building, we have been growing, but certainly for a championship level team like we expect to be, then we’ve got to play really good football and we want to play our best football on Saturday.”
