Lathan Ransom’s football dreams were so close to fruition in November that he could almost taste it.

The Ohio State safety wanted redemption for a couple of costly mistakes in the 2022 loss to Michigan. He wanted to win Big Ten and national titles. He then wanted to enter the NFL draft, which he’d considered doing a year earlier.

But in an instant, everything changed. Against Wisconsin, just two weeks before the Michigan game, Ransom felt something in his left foot.

He tried playing through it but lasted only one more play before hopping off the field. He’d sustained a Lisfranc injury, a tear of the bone and/or ligaments in the middle of the foot. Ransom’s season was done.

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“I'm not going to sit here and lie and say when it first happened, I wasn't crushed,” Ransom said Thursday. “I was really destroyed.”

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But he was also undeterred. Working closely with OSU head physical therapist Adam Stewart, Ransom says he is ahead of schedule in his recovery. He said he became pain-free toward the end of winter conditioning. He is participating in spring practice, though he expects to have some limitations for precautionary reasons.

“I think just knowing that God has a plan for me and I'm facing this adversity for a reason, I'm going to come out stronger, smarter and a better player,” Ransom said. “I can't wait for what he has in store for me this year.”

The Buckeyes missed Ransom at the end of the season. They were inexperienced at his bandit safety spot, and Michigan and Missouri exploited that at key moments.

“He's a big piece in our in our defense,” said cornerback and fellow Arizonan Denzel Burke. “We have a great relationship (personally), and we have a great relationship on the field. We kind of already know what we're thinking before the play even happens. Having him out there and knowing he's going to be in the right position always is awesome.”

Though Ransom intended to enter the NFL draft before the injury, he is pleased to have another year as a Buckeye. He impressed as a sophomore in 2021 before breaking a leg in the Rose Bowl against Utah. Ransom had an excellent year in 2022 until the Michigan game. He ranked third on the team in tackles with 74 and was a Thorpe Award semifinalist.

Then came the injury against Wisconsin and the business that remained unfinished. Ransom finished the 2023 season with 34 tackles and one interception in nine games.

“We have three goals here at Ohio State: Beat the team up north, win the Big Ten and win the national championship,” Ransom said. “I still have yet to achieve those goals. The next level (the NFL), that's my all-time dream. But I still haven't finished my legacy here at Ohio State with achieving those three goals, so it made the decision (to return) a lot easier.”

He credited his teammates, as well as his family, for helping him cope with the foot injury. But missing the Michigan game was particularly difficult.

“It was ridiculously hard,” Ransom said. “That was the game. That's the only game I really wanted to play all year. That's all I thought about, especially how the (2022) game ended.

"But it's that much more fuel in the fire this year to achieve our goal of beating the team up north, winning the Big Ten, and then winning the national championship. That's why we came back."

Ransom was part of a defense that ranked among the best in the country last year. Expectations are even higher now with most starters returning and the addition of star safety Caleb Downs as a transfer from Alabama.

Already, Ransom said, he and Downs are clicking.

“I’m super-duper excited,” Ransom said. “I love Caleb being here. We're watching film together, and we're competing on the field. To have someone like that push you every day, it’s going to make both of us better.”

Ransom has one last year to achieve his OSU goals. He says the pieces are in place for that to happen.

“If you look on paper, we have the best defense in the country,” Ransom said. “It's on us to put it all together. It's easy to say you have this defense. You’ve still got to go on the field, strap on your helmet and show it every week.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football: Lathan Ransom talks injury that ended 2023 season