The senior suffered the injury while conducting an individual workout ahead of fall camp.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day revealed during his weekly radio show on Tuesday afternoon that senior defensive end Tyler Friday will miss the entire season with a torn ACL.
“It was a tough break for him in the preseason, kind of a freak thing, just out doing some drills on his own,” Day said on 97.1 The Fan. “We’re obviously happy that he’s going to be back for another year, but it’s going to be a long year for recovery.”
The 6-foot-3 and 260-pound Friday has played in 26 games for the Buckeyes over the last three seasons and was expected to be a key contributor in the trenches this fall. That was until Day announced on the first day of camp that he would be sidelined for most of the year with an unspecified injury.
Even so, Friday – who will likely redshirt this fall and have two seasons of eligibility remaining after the NCAA granted an extra year to all student-athletes amid the pandemic – has remained upbeat and an active part of the locker room.
“He’s been very, very positive,” Day said. “He’s the big brother of (freshman defensive end) JT. (Tuimoloau), so he’s taken that role on. It’s part of the game unfortunately nowadays. An ACL used to be something where your career was done. Now as we know, it’s part of the game almost. He’s going to recover well. Our people will take great care of him, and we look forward to having him back next year.”
While the Buckeyes will certainly miss Friday, there’s still plenty of depth at defensive end with senior Tyreke Smith and juniors Zach Harrison and Javontae Jean-Baptiste returning and Tuimoloau and fellow five-star freshman Jack Sawyer expected to have roles this season.
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