Justin Frye didn’t have a full complement of offensive linemen available during his first spring at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes’ projected starting five up front was intact for the most part, but depth beyond that was one of Ryan Day’s chief concerns about the roster given the slew of injuries and absences that hampered Frye’s position room.
The good news for Ohio State fans is Frye expects the entire group to be ready for action come the start of preseason camp. That means barring any further setbacks, one of Day’s primary offseason gripes might already be remedied before the season even begins.
“We should be back full strength. We had a couple guys get banged up a little bit here and there in spring but nothing major,” Ohio State’s first-year offensive line coach said last month. “So being able to have everybody back – and that's great too when you have that much depth, because when you're not taking a rep, you can watch a rep on tape and get a mental rep, right? And when you have enough guys to take all those reps, they're getting a rest and you're working and executing individually, you're working and executing in practice, you're not just getting through or having to save yourself because you're limited on the amount of guys that are taking those reps.
“So that's that's going to be good for obviously the guys that missed the reps but for everybody as we come back.”
Still three months out from the Buckeyes’ season opener, there’s no great surprise as to who will be lining up to protect C.J. Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson and company for Frye in September. Ohio State already returns three starters from last year’s line, with Luke Wypler at center, Dawand Jones reprising his role at right tackle and Paris Johnson Jr. sliding from guard to left tackle to adjust for the departure of Nicholas Petit-Frere and Thayer Munford.
Savvy veteran Matt Jones, the sixth man of last year’s unit, will become a full-time starter for the first time on the inside, and five-star recruit Donovan Jackson will start on the opposite side of Wypler as a true sophomore. The group possesses plenty of promise, but expecting a full season to go off without a health hitch would be naive.
Entering the offseason it still seemed possible that Harry Miller could factor in as an option as the line’s sixth man despite missing nearly all of 2021, but the five-star recruit medically retired in March.
The next obvious choice to fill that void is redshirt sophomore Josh Fryar, who has played both tackle and guard for the Buckeyes and might have been primed for a breakthrough if healthy this offseason. Unfortunately for Fryar, a late-season injury in 2021 stalled his progress and the Indiana native was out for the entire spring.
Redshirt freshmen Zen Michalski and Ben Christman and redshirt sophomore Trey Leroux also did not play in the spring game due to apparent injuries of their own, which didn’t help matters in regards to depth up front.
“We do need to get more depth on the offensive line, that's for sure,” Day said. “I feel pretty good about five, six guys, but we need to get to seven, eight, nine, which was a strength for us the last couple years.”
Day said the impact on the line during practice was palpable.
“I think the depth that we've created at defensive line is going to be a huge advantage for us. I think our twos and threes are further along on the defensive side of the ball than they are on offense right now,” Day said after Ohio State’s Student Appreciation Day practice. “So you're seeing a lot of pressure on the quarterback, especially with the twos and threes. We're hoping to get some of those guys back on offense.”
But Frye had to make do nonetheless, even if it meant getting creative with some potential lineups. One such look saw Jackson getting reps as the Buckeyes’ second-team left tackle, which could be a fallback plan should anything happen to Johnson or Dawand Jones throughout the season.
Those reps may have been valuable for Jackson, given his lack of starting experience at Ohio State, but Frye expects to have more bodies available to lighten the load for the first-team line in a couple months.
“The guys that you had available you went with, right? We had to slide some guys, some guys took some double reps and so you don't love to do that but extra reps have never killed anybody yet,” Frye said. “But no, you just get through spring to see that, now we go to the summer, the kids get back with Mick (Marotti), they get back in the film on their own doing some things. When we hit fall camp, then I can be a little more targeted through fall as we get closer to the games. Like, 'Alright, here's our eight, nine, 10 guys we're gonna roll with and then you can really settle into those guys that way.
“But getting everybody back will be key because then that creates competition behind some of these younger guys. Like I said good quality reps and all those things you're looking for.”
Expectations for Ohio State’s high-powered offense are sky-high again in 2022, but offensive line play will be paramount if the Buckeyes are to win their biggest games this season. With the line at full strength, there’s little doubt Ohio State’s odds to do that will only increase.
