With projected starting center Harry Miller unavailable for Week 1, Luke Wypler made his first career start for Ohio State at Minnesota, and his second one appears likely to be coming against Oregon this weekend.
While Buckeye head coach Ryan Day didn’t officially confirm who will be snapping the ball to C.J. Stroud in Saturday’s home opener, he seemed to indicate Thursday that Wypler – a redshirt freshman – is in line to start at center at the moment.
“We’ve played a couple different guys and we’ll continue to roll guys. I think Luke’s ready to start, I thought he did a really good job in the first game,” Day said on Zoom to members of the media. “This will be a new challenge. They play with a 0-nose, and so they’ll have somebody lined up on him, and that’ll be a new thing for him, a new opportunity for him to grow. We’ll see closer to the game how we’ll shake it all out, but I thought he’s had a good week of practice.”
Wypler and the entire starting Ohio State offensive line earned champion grades for their performance against the Gophers in the 45-31 win, which included giving up no sacks for the first time since the 2018 season and leading the way for the Buckeye ground game to rush for more than 200 yards.
Miller, a junior who started most of the season at left guard last season, was expected to start the season opener until he was listed as unavailable on the Buckeyes’ gameday status report, but Wypler said he found out that he would be the starter mid-week.
“I thought it was a great experience, I mean my first time kind of getting thrown into the fire. Couldn’t have really handled it any better,” Wypler said Wednesday. “Kind of just keeping your mind right. I’m so thankful that I have (Greg Studrawa) and all the guys in my corner, and they really helped me through it. Obviously you get a little anxiety, get a little nervous before that, and I think that’s part of it, and being able to handle that.
“Josh Myers reached out, Wyatt Davis, all those older guys that were here last year and kind of know me, they were able to talk me through some of my worries and some things I was worried about going into the game. I’m just really excited how it went and that we got a win and that we got out of Minnesota 1-0.”
Miller backed up Myers, who turned pro following the 2020 season, during his true freshman campaign in 2019 before sliding out to guard last year. When Myers missed last season’s Michigan State matchup in December with COVID-19, Miller got the start at center for the Buckeyes.
Injuries forced Miller to miss most of the spring, though, and Wypler split first-team reps with redshirt junior offensive lineman Matthew Jones at the position in Miller’s absence.
“I think that was huge, it was so beneficial that I had all those reps under my belt coming into the game,” Wypler said. “I think it gave me a lot more confidence knowing that I go against the best linemen in the country every day here, and like the saying goes, ‘Iron sharpens iron.’ So going into that game I felt prepared and felt better, and I think those reps definitely helped.”
While Wypler deferred to Day and Studrawa when asked Wednesday if he thought he would start this week, he said “I’m still preparing like I’m the starter until I’m told otherwise,” and Day’s comments Thursday gave no indication that the New Jersey native would not start the game in the middle of Studrawa’s offensive line.
Although the details surrounding Miller’s absence remain undisclosed, Wypler said the former five-star recruit provided plenty of assistance in helping him transition to the starting role this past week.
“I think Harry was instrumental in that, helping me out and being able to just talk me through things and kind of keeping me level-headed,” Wypler said.
On his radio show on 97.1 The Fan, Day said there were “some things to clean up,” in regards to center play, given that a couple of Wypler snaps hit the ground in the season opener. However, Day said Wypler’s solid performance against Minnesota is a “good sign of things to come when you can step into an environment like that.”
The No. 3 Buckeyes take on No. 12 Oregon at noon in Columbus on Saturday.
