Sophomore Ezekiel Elliott, who had been Ohio State's projected starting running back, reportedly had wrist surgery Saturday.
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported that Elliott was operated on to repair a fractured wrist suffered Friday during practice.
The newspaper described the surgery as "minor," said there was a pin inserted and that Elliott would be back at practice Thursday.
Elliott (6-foot-0, 225 pounds), who was a high school sprinter of some renown in Missouri, was first in line at tailback to replace Carlos Hyde, who is now with the San Francisco 49ers.
Senior Rod Smith (6-3, 231), sophomore Bri'onte Dunn (6-0, 216) and true freshman Curtis Samuel (5-11, 190) are likely to split the practice reps that would have gone to Elliott. The Plain-Dealer reported that Smith lined up as the starter during Saturday's practice.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
