Jonathon Cooper, Austin Mack Game-Time Decisions for Saturday

Ohio State may be without two key starters in tomorrow’s game against the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Buckeyes have released their availability report for Saturday and senior defensive end Jonathon Cooper and senior wide receiver Austin Mack are both listed as game-time decisions. Both players dealt with injuries in camp, but both have also been able to get past those injuries enough to play this season.

Losing either would be significant for the Buckeyes. No updates from Ohio State have been provided as to the type or scope of any of the respective injuries.

Also joining them as a game-time decision is sophomore linebacker Teradja Mitchell. Mitchell has dealt with injuries for most of the season.

The good news for Ohio State is that junior left tackle Thayer Munford and junior middle linebacker Baron Browning are nowhere to be found on this week’s injury list. Browning missed last week’s game and Munford was forced into action. Both have resumed practicing this week and were performing well per reports from coaches and players.

There are, however, a number of Buckeyes who won’t be available this week, including sophomore defensive end Tyler Friday and fifth-year senior offensive tackle Josh Alabi. Both players play key reserve roles in the Buckeyes’ depth chart and both have been asked to start at times this season. With Friday out and Cooper a question mark, the Ohio State defensive end group will have to rely on Chase Young and Tyreke Smith and Zach Harrison and Javontae Jean-Baptiste to pick up the slack.

The rest of the unavailable list looks like this:

WR Kamryn Babb

DT Noah Donald

WR Ellijah Gardiner

TE Cormontae Hamilton

SAF Ronnie Hickman

DE Noah Potter

WR CJ Saunders

DT Taron Vincent

DT Brett Novick