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The Ohio State Buckeyes will be without multiple players for their College Football Playoff semifinal clash against Georgia, including Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The all-around wideout announced earlier this month that after “consulting with doctors,” he opted that it was best to not feature in the College Football Playoff and instead begin preparations for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Smith-Njigba had quite an injury-marred regular season. He suffered a nagging hamstring ailment in Ohio State’s season-opening win over Notre Dame in September. He was cleared to play in two more games in the regular season, including in the team’s home win over Iowa in October. The versatile wide receiver was on a pitch count in the conference matchup against Iowa, and he wound up not appearing in a single game over the remainder of the campaign.
As of late, Smith-Njigba has received plenty of outside criticism for his call to sit out the CFP, which Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud sees that it is simply unfair to the third-year wideout.