Availability Report: Jeremiah Smith And CJ Donaldson Questionable, Carnell Tate And Josh Padilla Out Against UCLA

The Buckeyes will be without wide receiver Carnell Tate and right guard Josh Padilla in the game against UCLA on Saturday, and could be without wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and running back CJ Donaldson Jr.

Smith and Donaldson are both listed as questionable for the game while Padilla and Tate will be unavailable.

Tate surprisingly missed the 34-10 win over Purdue last weekend despite not being listed on the availability report. Head coach Ryan Day said after the game that Tate felt something before the game and they held him out for precautionary reasons.

It’s unclear whether the ailment was more serious than previously thought or if Tate is being held out an extra week to give him more time to get back to 100 percent in a game that the Buckeyes are favored heavily to win.

If both Tate and Smith are out, Bryson Rodgers and Mylan Graham will likely see a lot of time in the contest, with freshman receiver Quincy Porter also likely included in a rotation now that he is no longer listed as out on the injury report.

Day has also said that he wants to rotate with starting right guard Tegra Tshabola, and with Padilla out again, that rotational player could be Ethan Onianwa or Gabe VanSickle, both of whom made it into the win over the Boilermakers last week.

Should Donaldson be out for the game, freshman running backs Bo Jackson and Isaiah West will likely shoulder the load in the backfield again — they did last week even with Donaldson healthy — and James Peoples could get more work as well.

Here’s a look at the full availability report:

Questionable

• RB CJ Donaldson Jr.
• WR Jeremiah Smith

Out

• DL Jarquez Carter
• DE Logan George
• SAF Malik Hartford
• WR De’zie Jones
• QB Mason Maggs
• DL Eric Mensah
• OL Josh Padilla
• DL Max Roy
• WR Carnell Tate
• DL Ahmed Tounkara