What effect will JSN’s departure really have?
COVER PHOTO: Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (11) tries to elude Iowa defenders during their game in Ohio Stadium on Oct. 22. The seven-yard catch was his only of the game and is the last of his OSU career. Picture by Ric Kruszynski/Columbus Wired.
On Monday afternoon, Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba finally put to rest whether or not he was going to suit up for the Buckeyes after it was announced they made it as the No. 4 team in the college football playoff.
He will not.
In a tweet sent out around 2:30 p.m. ET, the junior said after getting advice from his doctors, he would not return to play for the Buckeyes and instead, is going to focus on the next chapter of his playing career.
“After consulting with my doctors, it has been determined that I will not be able to participate in the playoffs. Having prayed on it with my family, I have decided to focus on getting 100% healthy and commit to my training for the next chapter in my football journey. I am officially declaring for the 2023 NFL draft.”
Head coach Ryan Day also released a statement through the school’s athletic department.
“I want to thank Jaxon for all he has done for our Ohio State program. He has had such a major impact here in Columbus, on and off the field, in a relatively short period of time. We all know he has a very bright future ahead of him and we all support him as he moves forward with his career.”
This all comes one day after Sunday’s press conference where Day was asked a couple of different times about Smith-Njigba’s status.
When asked by one reporter if Smith-Njigba’s decision was coming down to whether or not he was going to play due to health or concentrating on pro aspirations, Day quickly answered, “both”, and left it at that.
After getting a little bit more of a push on the subject, Day tried to come up with a good answer but seemed like he already knew what was going on.
“Yeah, we’ll see, I mean,” he said drawing a deep breath and then exhaling, “we’ll see. I mean … the whole thing has been unfortunate. And certainly nobody wants to play more than Jaxon. Again, we’ll probably have more in a few days.”
Twenty-four hours later, Buckeye Nation got the answer.
However, does this really come as a shock?
It shouldn’t.
Despite being considered the third receiver on the team last year, Smith-Njigba went on a rampage, notching a handful of single-season school records that also included a Rose Bowl record 347 receiving yards. His 95 catches for 1,606 yards in 2021 are OSU single-season marks and he set the single-game reception record twice with 15 catches against Nebraska as well as Utah in the Rose Bowl.
And that was aside Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, who both lavished praise on him throughout the season, calling Smith-Njigba the best of the three. Both Olave and Wilson were drafted back-to-back at Nos. 10 and 11 in last year’s draft.
But is this really going to hamper Ohio State’s offense going into the semifinal against Georgia?
Smith-Njigba was the preseason Biletnikoff favorite but only played in three games due to a damaging hamstring injury early in the season-opener against Notre Dame that continuously plagued him throughout the year. His last appearance was the seventh game of the season against Iowa where he caught one ball for seven yards but came out midway through the second quarter after pulling up lame on a deep out route towards the sideline.
His final OSU season will conclude with a total of five catches for 43 yards.
Disagreements will surely abound with that rhetoric but what has the offense and quarterback C.J. Stroud really missed this year without him?
Some detractors may point out that Stroud hasn’t looked as crisp as he did last year and JSN’s absence has played a huge role in that, and maybe that’s true. Stroud was at 65 percent on the year last year heading into the Rose Bowl with five games at 66 percent or lower and five interceptions.
Conversely, even though he has eight games so far this season within that 66 percent or lower range and has thrown one more pick, he’s still sitting at 66 percent overall, which is right on par with where he was at this time last year.
And Stroud is still manning one of FBS’s most dangerous offenses as the Buckeyes are both the second-highest scoring offense (44 points per game) and passing efficiency offense in the nation (175.78). Stroud himself ranks as the country’s most efficient passer (176.2) and is tied-for first with 37 touchdown tosses.
At this time last year, Stroud only had one more TD pass and was tied-for third in passing efficiency. Although, his rating was six points higher and he had 522 more passing yards at this point last year compared to now.
One could argue, though, that the passing yardage isn’t entirely his fault because Day said at the beginning of the season he wanted to run the ball more and that they did.
Last year before the Rose Bowl, Ohio State averaged 37 passes and 33 rushes per game whereas this year, those numbers are almost reversed at 36 runs and 31 passes. That’s a little over a four-play average per game, which could rightfully be one or two explosive plays away from Stroud equaling what he did last year.
And it’s not like he hasn’t had guys to throw to. For only the second time in school history, Stroud completed passes to two separate 1,000-yard receivers and is the only Scarlet and Gray QB to have two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season. Last year, it was Smith-Njigba and Wilson, who finished the season with 1,058 yards.
This year, it’s been sophomores Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, who ended the regular season with 1,157 and 1,039, respectively. Harrison is also a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the nation’s best receiver, and Egbuka is up for the Paul Hornung Award, which is handed to the country’s most versatile player.
So will this offense really miss Jaxon Smith-Njigba? As long as Day allows his guys to play “loose and aggressive”, they definitely could be “a dangerous team” as he’s already stated. And if that’s the case, JSN’s absence could simply be a thing of the past.