Ohio
Why Ohio State football kept Tyleik Williams on the sidelines in win at Michigan State
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ohio State held out starting defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in its 38-7 win at Michigan State on Saturday night.
Williams had been medically cleared to return after missing the previous week’s win over Marshall with an unspecified injury and stood on the sideline at Spartan Stadium in uniform, but never rotated in with the defensive line.
Buckeyes coach Ryan Day compared the injury situation to the one involving left guard Donovan Jackson from three weeks earlier.
While Jackson was available against Western Michigan on Sept. 7 after missing the season opener with a hamstring injury, the staff continued to keep him sidelined as a precaution. Williams’ availability was also limited to an emergency situation against the Spartans.
“We felt like one more week of rest to get him to 100% was the right thing to do,” Day said. “If we needed to, we could have him put him in the game. We decided we didn’t need him.”
Tywone Malone, a senior who transferred to Ohio State from Mississippi, made the start in place of Williams, while Hero Kanu, a redshirt sophomore who started last week, rotated with him in the interior.
Malone made a tackle in the second quarter when he and fellow defensive tackle Ty Hamilton stopped Michigan State running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams on a gain of 5 yards. It was the only tackle recorded by Williams’ replacements.
Before he was sidelined the last two weeks, Williams had nine tackles and 1.5 sacks in wins over Akron and Western Michigan to begin the season.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @joeyrkaufman or email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com.