Rotating first-team players at various positions has become a common practice at Ohio State in recent years.
Last season, the Buckeyes listed four players as starting defensive ends – Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, Nick Bosa and Jalyn Holmes – with each playing nearly identical snap counts throughout the season.
The same has been done at other positions including cornerback, where three eventual first-round picks – Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley and Denzel Ward – famously split reps evenly two seasons ago.
You also see a regular rotation at wide receiver, running back, and at times last season linebacker and safety.
Ohio State receivers coach Zach Smith has gone as far as to say he has to have more first-team players than starting positions – six to be specific.
"You have to have six," Smith said. "Every year, I gotta have six. I tell them, there’s no three starters. They do a little video board and I tell Jerry (Emig) all the time ‘There should be six guys up there.’"
It's not just Ohio State, a rotation makes sense for any team with depth and the top-to-bottom talent at a position. It allows you to keep players fresh throughout the game and the season, limit the chances for injury, and get different players with different skillsets on the field, keeping the opposition on their toes.
But one position group has been seemingly exempt from rotation is the offensive line. Most programs – Ohio State included – have five set starters on the offensive line, and only dip into the depth chart when there's an injury, a suspension or it's late in a blowout game.
The idea is that offensive line play requires cohesion and continuity, and rotating in other players would disrupt that.
Still, there's a strong benefit to a rotation, even on the offensive line. It keeps players fresh, especially if the opposing defensive line is rotating, it gives players experience with the first team so they aren't just thrown into the fire if there's an injury in front of them, and it build chemistry within an entire unit, not just five players.
It's not something you see often, but given the depth the Buckeyes have on the offensive line for really the first time since Urban Meyer's arrival in Columbus, it's something offensive line coach Greg Studrawa said they would like to do this year, in some form.
"You really want to be able to rotate guys if you can," Studrawa said.
Studrawa did qualify that statement, saying a true rotation is unlikely, especially competitive game situations, but this is certainly a step in that direction.
Ohio State wouldn't be the first team to employ an offensive line rotation. Recently, Clemson began rotating three tackles, three guards and two centers in order to keep the starters fresh. The New England Patriots began rotating offensive linemen as early as 2014, sometimes using as many as seven different offensive line combinations in the same game.
It's certainly a non-traditional strategy, with the talent and depth Ohio State has at the position, it could be worth a shot.
The Buckeyes have three guards who are really worthy of a starting spot – Branden Bowen and Demetrius Knox both performed well as starters last season – and a few talented players like Joshua Alabi, Malcolm Pridgeon and Josh Myers who've impressed in practice, but aren't set to be starters.
If Ohio State can get some of those players on the field in the early, less competitive games, it could build that much-needed cohesion and allow the team to feel comfortable with a rotation in more competitive games.
"Some of these guys that are really good aren’t going to start," Studrawa said. "But if they have a role to go in there and play, and they’re needed at a certain time, that keeps the depth, that develops the cohesiveness, that’s all the things that you want."
The benefits of a rotation are obvious and it's worked with every other position. Disrupting continuity is a legitimate concern, but if you can build that cohesion and familiarity with more than just five players, as Clemson and New England has done, a rotation is the way to go.
At the very least, the Buckeyes have a ton of depth, which is never something to complain about.
