COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a season that has been free of struggles for the Buckeyes, one of its captains has had to battle his way back onto the field in order to begin his senior campaign.

Jonathon Cooper had high expectations for his final season as a Buckeye, and a setback a week before the game against Florida Atlantic negatively impacted Cooper’s plan.

Before the injury that would keep Cooper out for the first four games of the season, he felt that he was primed to produce at a high level for an Ohio State defense that may be the best in the country.

“It had me pretty low, pretty upset, because I knew where I was at,” Cooper said on the injury. “I was playing my best football, and it is my last year here and I wanted to go out and show the nation what I could do, but things happen.”

After he was rolled up on during an inside drill play, he was forced to get surgery on a high ankle sprain. A tightrope surgery was necessary in order to get Cooper on the road to recovery, but the co-captain was likely to miss around six weeks.