Buckeyes rule injured offensive lineman Harry Miller out for season
COLUMBUS — A season poised to deliver on the high expectations for Harry Miller never really even started.
Now Ohio State is ready to call it officially over.
A former five-star recruit and a starter all of last season for the Buckeyes, Miller was penciled in as the likely anchor for an absolutely loaded offensive line during training camp. But Miller was unexpectedly scratched from the lineup just before the opener at Minnesota, and aside from a couple brief appearances off the bench, he’s been largely unavailable for the rest of the year.
Lettermen Row sources with direct knowledge of the situation indicated a lingering knee injury will keep Miller from making a return to action for the Buckeyes this season, an outcome everybody involved had been working to avoid but is now a reality.
“He is obviously frustrated,” Ohio State offensive line coach Greg Studrawa said last month. “Whenever you’re not out there and you’re not around with the guys and you can’t compete at a level that you want to compete at, it’s very frustrating for him.
“We’ve got to get practicing consistently. The first thing is to get him back totally healthy and get him to have a consistent week of practice where he goes full-go and doesn’t have any [injury] reoccurrences. That’s what’s happened, so when he can get consistent and get a whole good week of practice in there, then I’m going to start to weed him back into that that situation. … If we can keep healthy, then he’s going to get right back in the rotation.”
That won’t happen until at least next spring at the earliest now for Harry Miller, who has continued to be recognized off the field as a Good Works Team representative for his charitable efforts even while grinding through a difficult stretch trying to get back in pads.
Ohio State has still built arguably the nation’s most dominant offensive line even without Miller. And considering how long his absence has lingered this season, nothing will really change in terms of playing time for the starting unit or with the emergence of sixth-man Matthew Jones.
But the Buckeyes are still losing an undeniably talented option to bolster the lineup for the stretch run.
They now know for sure that Harry Miller won’t be back this season.
