Even though Ohio State has to find two new starting offensive tackles, Miles Walker isn’t entering his first year as a Buckeye with outsized expectations for his role as a true freshman.
At a position where freshmen typically don’t play major roles, Walker recognizes the reality that he isn’t likely to play much if at all in 2023. He’s OK with that.
“Right now, I just need to learn everything,” Walker said during a visit to the Ronald McDonald House of Columbus last week. “The tackles that they have now are phenomenal, and they've been here for a little while, some of them. So they know things better. And honestly, right now, just learning in practice from them has been great. Just watching them do what they do and just trying to pick up cues on how to be better and how to fit in well. That's all I've been doing.”
As the only three-star prospect in Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2023, Walker is viewed as more of a project than most of the Buckeyes’ other new freshmen. While the 6-foot-6 offensive tackle from Connecticut offers long-term upside, he could need multiple years of development before he’s ready to push for a starting job.
The first order of business for Walker is getting bigger. While he currently weighs 280 pounds, Ohio State wants to see him bulk up to 310-315 pounds.
“So it's definitely gonna take some work to get there. But I'm ready for it,” Walker said. “Right now, it's just getting stronger lifting, eating a lot.”
Walker is getting a head start on his first year of development as an early enrollee, allowing him to go through winter workouts and spring practices with the rest of the Buckeyes. He acknowledged that the first few weeks of winter workouts were a wakeup call that he’s not in high school anymore, but he feels he’s been able to acclimate quickly.
“To start off, it was definitely different. But I've definitely, I've adjusted a little bit now,” Walker said. “It's all worth it.”
Beyond the team runs and weight room sessions, Walker says he’s spent much of his first month as a Buckeye getting up to speed mentally and learning Ohio State’s offense.
“Just being in the offensive line room going over film and just learning everything, learning the new terms and plays and everything,” Walker said. “Right now, it's all like mental, becoming a better football player mentally. As the coming weeks come, we start doing drills, and that's when the whole physical, I guess, development part will come into play.”
If Walker can develop quickly both physically and mentally, there certainly could be opportunity for Walker to climb the depth chart before long. Entering this spring, there’s little established pecking order at the position following the departures of Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones. Josh Fryar, Zen Michalski, Tegra Tshabola and George Fitzpatrick will likely make up the two-deep in one order or another when spring practices open, but Walker and fellow true freshman Luke Montgomery could be the next men up behind them.
Montgomery is probably the likelier candidate of the two to push for an immediate spot on the two-deep, but Ohio State’s lack of proven depth at the position opens the door for all four of the Buckeyes’ freshman offensive linemen – all midyear enrollees, also including guard Austin Siereveld and center Joshua Padilla – to make an early impression this spring.
While Walker is the lowest-ranked signee in Ohio State’s 2023 class as the No. 498 overall prospect in 247Sports’ composite rankings, Ryan Day believes Walker has a bright future in Columbus.
“You look at his length and his athleticism and his size, he's going to start (his Ohio State career) at tackle,” Day said. “He brings a lot of potential there.”
Walker is bought into Ohio State’s plan for his long-term development, saying “I love it here and I wouldn't go anywhere else.” That’s largely because of the bond he’s already built with offensive line coach Justin Frye.
“That was the main factor why I decided to come here, just being able to work with him,” Walker said. “Back home, he came to visit me once, and then just being up here on some visits, being able to talk with him and just learning everything he had to say and everything he loved to put into the game and how he likes to develop kids; it just, for me, it stuck. And that's why I chose here.”
