5 months ago
- Ohio State
- Published: Dec. 29, 2025, 11:58 a.m.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Carnell Tate put connected a show successful Ohio State’s triumph complete Penn State connected Nov. 1, past he randomly vanished for a month.
Tate’s 5 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown, mixed pinch Jeremiah Smith’s six catches for 123 yards and 2 scores, was expected to beryllium nan first of a month-long ramp-up for an discourtesy that’d spent nan first 2 months of nan play slow-playing connected its measurement to nan postseason.
- Here are nan apical 10 trading Ohio bobbleheads for 2025
- Ohio State football’s Ryan Day reacts to Michigan hiring Kyle Whittingham
- Twiggy nan waterskiing squirrel, Ohio State moments, Trump protests: Top 20 cleveland.com Instagram posts of 2025
- Ranking Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and nan 8 quarterbacks near successful nan College Football Playoff: Buckeye Talk podcast
That was until astir 30 minutes earlier kicking disconnected a crippled against Purdue nan pursuing week. What should’ve been regular warm-ups turned into a wellness business pinch Tate watching a win.
“I was conscionable emotion something, and I didn’t want to push it immoderate much than I had to,” Tate said, though he declined to disclose nan existent injury. ”I knew my teammates were tin of going retired location and competing without me.”
Tate’s missed crippled against Purdue led to him besides missing games against UCLA and Rutgers. The Buckeyes had gone from surviving successful a world wherever he and Smith had shown nan state conscionable really potent their passing onslaught was to having some opinionated connected nan sidelines.
Smith has since admitted that nan clip distant gave him immoderate worry astir whether he could get backmost by nan clip OSU faced Michigan. Tate had immoderate worries, but was assured that nan scheme was ever to beryllium backmost by that game.
“I was having those kinds of emotions pinch what I was dealing with,” Tate said. “But I knew I was connected a way to return for that game.”
He’d return and drawback 5 passes for 82 yards, which included a 50-yard touchdown drawback that was fundamentally nan dagger successful a 27-9 win, snapping a four-game losing streak. The pursuing week, he had 4 catches for 45 yards and a people successful a nonaccomplishment to Indiana successful nan Big Ten Championship Game.
Tate was ne'er each that concerned that his clip arsenic a Buckeye was over, moreover if he missed retired connected a fewer games that they ne'er really needed him successful to win. He conscionable needed to get healthy.
He and Smith person now had 3 other weeks to get moreover healthier arsenic nan Ohio State heads into nan College Football Playoff looking to repetition arsenic nationalist champions.
“It was difficult, but I cognize that pinch nan crippled of shot injuries come,” Tate said. ”It happens. We wish it hadn’t happened, but it happened. It was difficult watching my teammates spell retired location and play without me, but I knew that I was gonna travel backmost for nan remainder of nan season.
“We’re emotion great. We’ve had each nan clip disconnected to remainder our bodies.”
Stephen Means covers Ohio State shot for Cleveland.com while besides serving arsenic nan big of nan Buckeye Talk podcast. Prior to covering nan Buckeyes, he sewage acquisition moving astatine nan Akron Beacon Journal...
