Greg Studrawa makes no bones about the Buckeyes’ offensive line depth. He absolutely adores the current shape of his unit, and that includes the backup line behind the five starters.
“I’m telling you right now, I got 10 guys,” he said on Tuesday. “I think the backups would start in a lot of places. In my opinion.”
One of them, a guy who hasn’t seen the field much yet but is quietly part of the second-team offense, is redshirt sophomore Enokk Vimahi.
He, much like Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Nicholas Petit-Frere, simply couldn’t make an immediate impact in his collegiate career because of his weight. He arrived on campus in 2019 weighing 257 pounds, which he admits “really not a good weight for a guy who's trying to play offensive guard, let alone at Ohio State.” It required him to spend his first season on campus packing on pounds. He got close to 300 pounds by the end of the season and is now up to 305 pounds.
“Physically I feel a lot better, a lot stronger,” Vimahi said. “Along with that weight gain, I've also been able to keep my quickness, which is one thing I definitely pride myself on.”
By getting bigger, Vimahi positioned himself as a legitimate option for Studrawa but still had too many veterans in front of him to contribute much as a redshirt freshman last season. He ultimately played just 20 offensive snaps in reserve duty, not getting off the bench in the postseason.
He saw a career-high 13 snaps in the win at Michigan State, seeing time both at guard and right tackle.
“One thing my parents always taught me is to be humble. So when I got here, it was trying to learn as much as I could, trying to endure as much as I could,” Vimahi said. “I've definitely not been perfect at that, but the brotherhood is real. So just leaning on older guys and hearing their stories of how they've done it, because I'm definitely not the only one who's endured anything or been through pain or struggle or anything like that. I'm glad I have them. I look to be an older guy to the freshmen now.”
The goal for Vimahi, right now, is pretty simple: “Just getting on the field and being useful.”
He’s entering his third season as a Buckeye, and he’s trying to figure out a way to force himself onto the field. Thus, he’s making himself an option at as many spots as possible. He came into college fully anticipating that he’s play guard. Part of that, certainly, was the fact that he was so much smaller than typical offensive tackles when he first got to town. Now that he’s up to 305 pounds at 6-foot-4, he feels capable of playing tackle as well, which is why he’s lining up there in practices.
“I knew that I was versatile enough. I played tackle in high school,” Vimahi said. “I was just trying to use similar technique and also just learning from guys like Thayer (Munford) and Nick (Petit-Frere), staying in after practice, just getting that pass set down. It's a lot different than guard set. But I'm grateful for those guys for helping me out and coach Stud and (graduate assistant) Kennedy (Cook) for helping me.”
Though he doesn’t appear to be the top backup tackle or backup guard at the moment, he’s trying to increase his odds of getting onto the field by being able to help in numerous spots.
“One thing I always want to be is useful to the team and be that guy, a Swiss Army Knife guy,” Vimahi said. “A guy that you can just plug and play no matter where, guard or tackle. A guy who can make a difference.”
And he thinks he’s ready to be that guy in 2021.
“I feel confident enough to where we have the best defensive line in the country and I go up against them every single day,” Vimahi said. “Had moments my freshmen year, moments last year where I was able to get in and play. I don't doubt myself at all.”
