Starting Safety Lathan Ransom 'Day-To-Day' With Undisclosed Injury

COLUMBUS — Ohio State graduate senior safety Lathan Ransom is nursing an undisclosed injury and may not be available for Saturday’s game against Nebraska.

Rumors began surfacing last week that Ransom injured his foot in practice. Asked on Tuesday to provide clarification on the rumor, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day declined to talk about the matter.

Following practice on Wednesday, however, Day was again asked for an update on Ransom. Given the recent season-ending injury to starting left tackle Josh Simmons, the news on Ransom could have certainly been worse.

“Yeah, there’s nothing long-term there,” Day said. “He’ll be day-to-day right now. He’s improving very well and we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”

Day has never been overly forthcoming with injuries, but when a player is out for an extended period of time — or the entire season — he will generally make that known. The fact that Day considers Ransom “day to day” is seemingly good news, but a more realistic way to decipher his answer would probably be “week to week.”

Ohio State hosts Nebraska and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola this week. The Huskers are averaging just 18.3 points per game in conference play, and they are coming off of a 56-7 loss last week at Indiana.

Even if Lathan Ransom was good enough to go this week against Nebraska, Day may prefer that he rest one more week and be ready to go for the trip to Penn State next week.

Ransom has dealt with injuries throughout his Ohio State career, but has always bounced back quicker than anticipated. Until he gets back, the Buckeyes must figure out how they want to replace him.

Freshman Jaylen McClain and sophomore Malik Hartford are the second-team safeties, so one of them could step in for Ransom this week if necessary.

Day was asked about the depth in the secondary this week as well, and admitted the Buckeyes could be deeper at a position that is just a little bit thinner right now.

“Yeah, we probably have more depth at corner than safety. But I feel like we do have enough guys back there to get what we need to get done,” he said.

Hartford started two games last year as a true freshman, and McClain has earned nothing but positive reviews since he enrolled back in January.

A few minutes after declining to speak about a possible Ransom injury at Tuesday’s press conference, Day was asked about the depth at safety.

“Yeah, Jaylen McClain’s done a nice job. Malik Hartford’s done a nice job,” Day said. “Those guys, Malik’s played some before, and Jaylen’s a good young player. So I’d probably say those guys — if you’re looking at some backups there, it’d be those guys.”

There is also the possibility that the Buckeyes could move one of their nickel backs to safety. Jordan Hancock is the starter at nickel, but he’s a veteran who could step in if needed. The nature of the position requires that he play some deep safety at times anyway.

“Yeah, I think that’s probably the flexibility of having the three-safety system that would allow us some depth,” Day said. “Like I said before, I think we have enough to go play. So yeah, there’s some flexibility there.”

The Buckeyes will host the Huskers on Saturday for a 12:00 pm kickoff on FOX.