Kosta Karageorge flier

A flier for missing Ohio State football player Kosta Karageorge was posted in a McDonald's news Ohio State's campus, as well as many other areas around Columbus.

(Doug Lesmerises, Cleveland.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A senior was missing on Ohio State's Senior Day.

Walkon defensive lineman Kosta Karageorge, who hasn't been seen since leaving his Columbus apartment early Wednesday morning, around 2 a.m., should have been on the turf at Ohio Stadium before Saturday's game with Michigan.

Instead, his family and friends were still searching for Karageorge, 82 hours after he went missing, and his teammates were still wondering.

"It was confusing and worrying," senior defensive lineman and captain Michael Bennett said. "If you know Kosta, you're kind wondering what he's doing. I don't think anyone did anything to him. I'm wondering what he's doing. Hopefully he didn't do anything to himself.

"He's a strong guy. He's a smart guy and a good friend of mine. I didn't hang out with him much outside of football. I'm just nervous because football was important to him, his family, his girlfriend, wrestling was really important to him. Hopefully he was somewhere watching this game."

Ohio State football player Kosta Karageorge in the outfit he was wearing when last seen on late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning.

The Buckeyes beat Michigan 42-28, but in the context of Karageorge's safety, of course the score of a game doesn't matter. But the game was played. And when the seniors walked out to their families, the Buckeyes acknowledged Karageorge's absence and asked the crowd to think of the missing member of the scarlet and gray.

"It's unbelievable," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. "All you can do is grab a knee and play hard.

"I know there's a lot of prayers on the team because a lot of the guys are friends with Kosta. He was only with us since August, so I didn't know him that well but talked to his mom a few times. Just come home safe, man."

Karageorge, 22, wrestled for three seasons at Ohio State before walking on the football team this season. His family has said that he has a history of concussions, and they were concerned he may have left his apartment Wednesday while dealing with issues related to those head injuries. His absence was noted in part because he didn't show up at football practice Wednesday morning.

"That's been real hard man. It was so weird because we were all joking around after practice on Tuesday when he was there," junior defensive lineman Adolphus Washington said. "He didn't come to practice so we thought maybe he's at wrestling, or he has something to do. We didn't think anything of it. The next day everyone was asking have you heard from Kosta because he didn't come in to lift.

"Kosta was one of those guys that went out there and did whatever you need. If we needed a look on the defensive line, he'd go play offense so we can get that type of look. He was dedicated and willing to do whatever it takes to win. It's hard to move throughout the week knowing we don't know where he is. That's one of our brothers."

Ohio State released a statement from Meyer and the OSU football team doctor on Friday. That had been the team's only official mention of his absence, until the aftermath of the win over Michigan.

All the Buckeyes knew for sure Saturday was that a player who should have been there, wasn't there.

"I was friends with Kosta before he even joined the team. He's a great guy. Just for something like that to happen, it's a shame," junior left tackle Taylor Decker said. "We really hopes that he's OK, the he ends up being found and he's safe. We pray for him, we've prayed for him multiple times, trying to do anything we can to get any information.

"He's a great guy, coming from the wrestling team to help us. You just hope that a guy like that is safe. The whole thing is bigger than football."