COLUMBUS — Ohio State sophomore wide receiver Carnell Tate went through the first round of pregame warmups, and the second round of pregame warmups. He dressed in pads and jogged through practice plays 30 minutes before kickoff with the rest of the starters, just like he does every week.

But Tate didn’t play Saturday against Iowa.

Ohio State held him out, using the same approach it took to handling the injury situation of senior defensive tackle Tyleik Williams the previous two games, and that of left guard Donovan Jackson the two games before that.

“Carnell was available,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day explained after a 35-7 win over the Hawkeyes. “He could have played. Another one of these situations where we decided to hold him. If we needed to put him in the game, he absolutely could have played.

“But we just felt like it was the right thing to do to hold him, and hopefully we’ll have a 100% Carnell going into next week.”

Tate was listed as “questionable” on the team’s availability report. His injury is undisclosed.

Saturday marks the first time Tate has missed an Ohio State game. He appeared in all 13 games last season as a true freshman, a season in which he had more targets (28), receptions (18) and receiving yards (264) than Marvin Harrison Jr. (16 targets, 11 receptions, 139 receiving yards, three touchdowns), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (13 targets, 10 receptions, 49 receiving yards, one touchdown) and Chris Olave (16 targets, 12 receptions, 197 receiving yards and three touchdowns) tallied as first-year Buckeyes players, per Pro Football Focus.

Tate is currently Ohio State’s third-leading receiver with 14 catches and 219 receiving yards, not to mention his catch-and-run touchdown in the opener against Akron. Plus, the IMG Academy product has emerged as a reliable perimeter blocker and pre-snap motion chess piece.

“I think Carnell’s done a really, really good job this year,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said earlier this season, “not just with the ball in his hands, but blocking and influencing guys without the ball. He’s really, really taken ownership of that. And he said, ‘It doesn’t matter if I have the ball in my hands or not.’”

Howard added at the time: “That’s huge. There were some blocks that he made on some plays that turned some 10-yard gains into 20-25-yard gains, and that’s a difference maker. He’s done a really good job with that.”

Last month, Day described Tate’s accountability as “tremendous.” The Buckeyes count on him to be a major part of their 2024 offense.

He wasn’t out there against Iowa. He could have been, but, as Day said, Ohio State hopes for the second-year receiver to be 100% for a top-10 showdown in Eugene next week.

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