Ohio State center Seth McLaughlin suffered a torn Achilles tendon during practice on Tuesday.
The devastating injury will cost McLaughlin the rest of the season, according to the Columbus Dispatch, with the Buckeyes down to their final two games of the regular season.
McLaughlin had been Ohio State’s starting center for all 10 of its games this season after he had transferred to the school from Alabama and comes with the Buckeyes already having lost players on their offensive line.
Carson Hinzman is likely the next man up with McLaughlin now out after the junior had bounced around the offensive line this season.
He played left guard the last three games for the Buckeyes and had started at center last year before McLaughlin transferred in.
Hinzman had credited McLaughlin this year for helping him grow as a player.
“It’s been a lot of learning,” Hinzman said, according to On3. “Obviously it’s not what you think coming off of last year. But deep conversations in myself with God, asking why some things happen, and then figuring out — you know, some things like this can be the best things.
“Learning from Seth, he’s an amazing player, he’s an amazing guy.”
McLaughlin made headlines last season while with Alabama during the Rose Bowl when he botched several snaps, including a blunder in overtime that impeded the Crimson Tide on a fourth-and-goal attempt from the three-yard line.
This season those snapping issues had subsided and he and Ohio State were a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the best offensive line unit in the country.
The Buckeyes also lost Josh Simmons to a season-ending knee injury when they lost to Oregon in October.
Ohio State will face Indiana this weekend and then battle Michigan in the final week of the college football regular season at Ohio Stadium.
