After being hampered by a hamstring injury for most of the 2017 Ohio State football season, Mike Weber was excited about being back at full strength going into the 2018 season.
Unfortunately for the Buckeyes’ redshirt junior running back, that hasn’t been the case.
Following an excellent start to the season in which he ran for 180 yards and three touchdowns in Ohio State’s season opener against Oregon State, Weber suffered a foot strain during the first half of the Buckeyes’ third game of the season against TCU. He continued to play in that game, but after undergoing treatment for the following week, Weber aggravated that injury when he took a hit on the sideline during the second quarter of the Buckeyes’ next game against Tulane, forcing him to limp across the field and leave that game early.
Despite that injury, though, Weber was back on the field this past Saturday at Penn State, playing 31 snaps, carrying the ball nine times for 51 yards and catching one pass for five yards.
It’s simply not in Weber’s nature to sit out a game unless he absolutely has to.
“You’ve got to cut his foot off for him not to play,” Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford said Tuesday. “He’s going to play, unless there’s something that he just can’t go.”
While Weber hasn’t missed any time other than the second half against Tulane – which he wouldn’t have played in anyways due to the game’s lopsided nature – he acknowledged it has been frustrating to have to battle through an injury again.
“It’s real hard. Because you know, you want to be 100 percent, to be at your best,” Weber said. “It plays with your mind sometimes. Sometimes it actually hurts.”
Weber also realizes, though, that getting dinged up is a part of the sport of football – particularly at the position he plays.
“Football comes with injuries,” Weber said. “You get hurt, and stuff like that. Especially at running back. So I just feel like you got to keep doing what you got to do to get back to 100 percent.”
“You’ve got to cut his foot off for him not to play.” – Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford on Mike Weber
Some players in Weber’s position – especially considering his future aspirations of playing in the NFL – might decide they should take time off if they are dealing with a minor injury. If he did, he might heal faster; he might have healed faster last year, too, when he did sit out two games because of his hamstring but otherwise played through the pain as the injury lingered for months.
Weber, however, likes playing football too much to make the decision to sit out a game unless he’s told he has to.
“I would say I’m hurt, not injured,” Weber said. “If you’re injured, you can’t play. I’m more hurt, so I can get out there and do some things, but I don’t want to miss any games. If I have to I will, but if I can play, I can play.”
Mike Weber has been battling through an injury, but he's trying not to let that affect his play. Aaron Doster – USA TODAY Sports
Alford said he has not had conversations with Weber about whether he should play through his injuries, as he trusts Ohio State’s medical staff to make those decisions. So as long as both the medical staff and Weber say he can play, he doesn’t hesitate to continue playing Weber as much as he normally would.
“Our medical staff is elite,” Alford said. “So I’m not here to judge a hamstring injury, a shoulder injury – that’s on them. If they say he’s cleared, then he’s cleared. And we go to work.”
Despite being less than 100 percent healthy, Weber has rushed for 133 yards on 33 carries over the course of the Buckeyes’ last three games, while also catching six passes for 43 yards in that span.
He hasn’t been quite as explosive as he was at the beginning of the year, but he’s still performed well, and Alford credits Weber’s competitive fire with making that possible.
“He’s a tough kid,” said Alford, who was a running back himself during his own career playing football at Colorado State. “I know, I’ve had (Weber’s injury), it hurts. But he has fought through it. He’s managed it to the best of his ability these last few weeks. And his goal is to play.”
Weber is expected to be a full participant once again when the Buckeyes play Indiana in their sixth game of the season at Ohio Stadium on Saturday (4 p.m., Fox).
