Buckeyes’ Rod Smith misses team flight and likely bowl game

By Doug Lesmerises

The Plain Dealer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.

At the start of the season, it looked as if Ohio State may have almost too many tailbacks, with five legitimate candidates fighting for carries.

Now it looks as if none of those running backs will wind up playing in every game this season, with a missed flight just one more way not to be on the field.

Redshirt freshman running back Rod Smith missed the Buckeyes’ team charter flight to Jacksonville on Tuesday and remains in Ohio, a team spokesman said.

It’s uncertain whether he’s going to make it to Florida on his own, but he has already missed three days of practice and meetings. So he probably won’t play in Monday’s Gator Bowl, missing his first game of the season, though most of his action in the first 12 games has come on special teams.

Smith has 29 carries for 116 yards and one touchdown this season, with 18 rushes in the season opener against Akron while both Dan Herron (Warren Hzrding) and Jordan Hall were suspended, and none since Game 4 against Colorado.

So he won’t be missed, but this isn’t a great impression to make for 2012.

Herron, who despite his suspension for the first six games led OSU running backs with 596 yards on 123 carries for a 4.8-yard average, will be gone to graduation.

But true freshmen Warren Ball and Bri’onte Dunn will join Smith, Hall, Carlos Hyde and maybe Jaamal Berry in the mix at running back. New head coach Urban Meyer previously seemed intrigued about handing off to a guy such as Smith.

“I’m excited about big backs. I haven’t had a big back in a while,” Meyer said.

Smith, at 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, best fits that mold. Hyde is 6-0 and 238 pounds. Ball is 6-2 and 200, and Dunn is 6-2 and 215.

A year ago, Smith was lauded by teammates as a bowl practice star, but he never got rolling this season after fumbling in each of the first two games of the year.

Now Hyde should go into spring practice as the No. 1 back, after rushing for 549 yards and a team-high six touchdowns on 101 carries, a 5.4-yard average. He missed one game this season, not getting in against Wisconsin.

Hall ran for 381 yards on 95 carries, a 4-yard average, after missing the first two games of the season due to suspension and another with an injury.

Berry carried just three times for 5 yards and hasn’t been with the team since he was charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct in early November. His future is uncertain.

And Smith most recently touched the ball when he carried four times for 18 yards on Sept. 24.

There’s no information that this is anything more than a missed flight. And Ohio State’s relationship with the Smith family goes behind Rod. His younger brother, Jaylon, is a high school junior and a linebacker with a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes.