WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate was held out of the Buckeyes’ 34-10 win at Purdue as a precautionary measure.
Tate was not listed as unavailable on the pregame injury report, but appeared to suffer a setback just before kickoff at Ross-Ade Stadium.
“We felt like he was going to be OK to play,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said, “but when he went through warmups, he just felt something there, and we wanted to be really careful. Could he have played? Probably.”
Day did not reveal the specifics of the injury that led the Buckeyes to sideline Tate against the Boilermakers, who remain winless in the Big Ten this year.
As the Buckeyes handled Purdue on Nov. 8, Tate stood on the visiting sideline in uniform without a helmet. His absence resulted in the Buckeyes going deeper into their receiver rotation.
“It gives us an opportunity to get some other guys in the game,” Day said, “which was great.”
Mylan Graham, a redshirt freshman, and Bryson Rodgers, redshirt sophomore, both saw larger roles in place of Tate. Graham caught a pass for 20 yards in the third quarter, and Rodgers had two catches for 30 yards.
More than two months into the season, Tate he has been one of quarterback Julian Sayin’s primary targets with 39 catches for 711 yards and seven touchdowns, forming a dynamic duo with sophomore Jeremiah Smith,. In three out of the previous four games, Tate had at least 100 yards receiving yards.
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow along on Bluesky, Instagram and X for more.
