The Ohio State Buckeyes will be without multiple players for their College Football Playoff semifinal clash against Georgia, including Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The all-around wideout announced earlier this month that after “consulting with doctors,” he decided that it was best to not feature in the College Football Playoff and instead begin preparations for the 2023 NFL Draft.

Smith-Njigba dealt with an injury-marred campaign this year. He suffered a notable hamstring ailment in Ohio State’s season-opening win over Notre Dame in September. He was cleared to play in two more games in the regular season, including in the team’s home win over Iowa in October. The versatile wide receiver was on a pitch count in the conference matchup against Iowa, and he wound up not appearing in another game over the remainder of the regular season.

Smith-Njigba has received plenty of outside criticism as of late for his call to sit out the CFP, which Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud believes is simply unfair to the third-year wideout.

“Honestly, it sucks,” Stroud said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I feel so bad for them and they work so hard. Honestly, the stuff that people are saying about them is crazy. Especially Jaxon. I don’t go into back and forth with people and try to prove them wrong or right. I don’t get into that, it really doesn’t matter.

“But it’s sad that people — we really put our lives on the line and our bodies on the line and our mentals. And I’m not saying other people in other careers don’t, but people judge us so much because we have a scoreboard and we have a result that people can go look up online. … I know that people were talking about ‘He should play.’ Y’all have no idea the stuff that he’s been through this year. Like no clue. So who are people to talk about my brother like that.”

Smith-Njigba’s run at Ohio State came to an end after 23 total games played, where he tallied 1,698 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns.

Stroud will have to count on the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Julian Fleming to step up in Smith-Njigba’s absence against Georgia.