EAST LANSING, Mich. — There was a scenario Saturday night where Ohio State could have called the number of Tyleik Williams, the Buckeyes’ starting 3-technique defensive tackle who missed last week’s game against Marshall. Williams was “available,” after all.

Except, coordinator Jim Knowles’ unit played bend-but-don’t-break defense that, despite forcing just one punt in the first half, turned Michigan State over three times in that span: once on downs and twice with fumbles.

And, so, Ohio State held Williams out another week, as the Buckeyes rolled to a 38-7 win.

“Tyleik was available. He was available in an emergency role,” head coach Ryan Day explained postgame. “If we felt like we needed him, we were going to put him in the game. He was cleared.

“But [we] felt like, almost like the Donovan [Jackson] situation, one more week of rest would get him to 100%, which we felt like was the right thing to do. If we needed to, we could have put him in the game. We decided we didn’t need him.”

The Jackson situation Day referenced played out over the first two weeks of the season. Jackson, the Buckeyes’ starting left guard, missed the first two games of the year with a hamstring injury he suffered in training camp. Jackson was listed as out in the opener, but he was “available” in Week 2 against Western Michigan. Still, he didn’t play, and redshirt freshman Austin Siereveld continued to start in his place.

That gave Jackson the off week to keep recovering as well. He returned in Week 4 against Marshall. Williams is expected to return Week 6 against Iowa.

Williams, like Jackson, is one of the 11 draft-eligible and starter-level players who put his NFL dreams on pause and returned to Ohio State for the 2024 season. He had totaled nine tackles, including 1.5 sacks, in the first two games of the year, as well as four pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

In 2023, the 6-foot-3, 327-pound defensive tackle mounted 54 total tackles — he combined for 37 his first two years at Ohio State — not to mention his 10.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and five passes defended, plus a fumble recovery for a touchdown he recorded against Western Kentucky in Week 3. Maybe most notably, Williams upped his snap count significantly, playing 645 defensive snaps last season, according to PFF. He had notched 251 and 183 defensive snaps in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Williams played 40 defensive snaps against Akron in this year’s opener and 30 more the following week against Western Michigan, per PFF. But the Manassas, Virginia, native hasn’t seen action the last two games.

Redshirt sophomore Hero Kanu got the starting nod in Williams’ absence versus Marshall. Redshirt junior Tywone Malone earned the start Saturday at Michigan State.

Defensive line coach Larry Johnson rolled his rotation both games. As was the case last week, Ohio State missed Williams Saturday night against the Spartans but not enough to break glass and call his number a week early.

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