COLUMBUS, Ohio - Austin Mack hasn’t had much of a presence on the field yet this season through two games, but the important thing is just that; he’s on the field.
Ohio State’s week one victory over Florida Atlantic was the first time Mack had taken the field since suffering a left foot injury against Purdue last October.
In his junior year, he set a career best in receptions and was only 13 yards off tying his career high in receiving yards before he went out for the year with his injury. Further ailments kept him off the field briefly during fall camp, but the senior said he is “absolutely” feeling healthy at this point.
In his first two games this season, he has five receptions for 45 yards, a respectable number with how Binjimen Victor and K.J. Hill have dominated the receiving game so far. However, Mack says he was experiencing some rust early on and is still getting into his groove.
“It was a little iffy. I had to get back in the groove. I missed little time of camp,” Mack said. “So definitely was just trying to get more of those game reps going against higher competition and get back into the groove of things.”
With how everything has shaken out during Mack’s career at Ohio State, this feels like the first year that Mack is truly primed for a breakout season. In his freshman and sophomore seasons he was behind the likes of Parris Campbell, Curtis Samuel, Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon in the receiving room pecking order, but he now finds himself as one of the veterans on this team, and regardless of what happened in the past, Ryan Day is relying on him this season.
“Well, the injury last year made it hard. He's made some big, big catches for us. He's a guy that we have to count on, especially on third down to be that big, strong receiver that we can rely on,” Day said. “He's been around for a while. He's veteran. He knows what it looks like. He's got good size.”
Beyond dealing with injuries, another change Mack made during the offseason was changing from the X to the Z for Ohio State. Focusing less on winning one-on-one battles and more on taking the top of the defense, this has been a big shift for Mack as he heads into his final season with Ohio State.
He also said that despite being categorized as a Z now, he considers himself a versatile player since he’s had experience at the X, and he feels good about the transition so far.
“I pride myself on just being detailed and trying to, you know, know everything from on the side making sure the guys with me knows what he's doing you know,” Mack said. “...it's just trying to, you know, make sure that I'm most focused and detailed.”
Now that Mack is healthy and knows his position, he can focus on going out and playing to the best of his ability for Ohio State this season. Going into the first Big Ten game of the season, he’s looking to have a big season and go out alongside Victor and Hill like the old guard in Campbell, Dixon and McLaurin did a year before them.
“So now it's just a matter of production for Austin. So far he's done a pretty good job in these first couple games,” Day said. “He had the hamstring in the pre-season. He wasn't able to kind of be a finished product going into the season. But he's getting better. He's leg is getting stronger. We're going to need him big-time when we get into the conference play here.”
