Josh Simmons has turned heads with his athleticism in his first three months as a Buckeye.
As we’ve asked numerous Ohio State football players about Simmons in the weeks leading up to the start of preseason camp, the one thing they’ve consistently noted about the San Diego State transfer offensive tackle is how athletic he is.
“He's freaky athletic. That's the one thing I take away from him. He’s freaky athletic, and he works very hard,” offensive tackle Josh Fryar said earlier this month at the CareSource Football ProCamp. “He moves like none other, and it's kind of crazy to see his athleticism.”
Fellow offensive lineman Jakob James also praised Simmons’ physical ability and work ethic during an interview with Eleven Warriors at that same camp, saying Simmons has “been awesome” and “he’s really athletic.” Right guard Matt Jones offered similar praise when asked about Simmons at last week’s Special Skills Football Camp.
“He's very athletic. He brings everything to the table. That's a guy who wants to get better, and he's gonna keep pushing,” Jones said. “He may make little mistakes, but he's always gonna grow and get better every day. That's what I like about him.”
Simmons has impressed players outside of his position group, too.
“Explosive guy,” defensive end JT Tuimoloau said when asked for his impressions of Simmons at Big Ten Media Days. “His potential is through the ceiling. He just came in, got right to work.”
Ohio State coach Ryan Day also cited Simmons’ athleticism when asked why the Buckeyes identified Simmons as a good fit to fill their need for a transfer offensive tackle.
“Tried to do the best we could and find the best candidate for what we were looking for. Sometimes, it's about the fit and who they are. But with Josh, we saw a lot of athleticism there and a huge upside,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days.
“He moves like none other, and it's kind of crazy to see his athleticism.”– Josh Fryar on Josh Simmons
At 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds, Simmons – who Day revealed is being called “Jimmy” inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center to distinguish him from Fryar – certainly looks the part of an Ohio State offensive tackle. His film from San Diego State, where he was the starting right tackle last season, shows he has excellent foot quickness for an offensive lineman.
Of course, there’s a difference between looking the part and playing the part, and the next month will determine whether Ohio State believes Simmons is ready to do the latter as a starting offensive tackle this season. While Simmons has clearly impressed his new teammates in summer workouts, he hasn’t participated in an actual practice at Ohio State yet. That will happen for the first time Thursday, when the Buckeyes open preseason camp at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
While Simmons has the most starting experience of any of Ohio State’s offensive tackles with the 13 games he started for the Aztecs in 2022, there’s a difference between playing for San Diego State and playing for Ohio State. And he was far from perfect in his first season as a starter, notably struggling with penalties, as he was flagged 17 times in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus.
So while Simmons enters camp as a speculative frontrunner to win the starting right tackle job, Day said Simmons has to prove himself on the practice field first.
“I think it's still undecided,” Day said when asked about the offensive tackle competition. “For Josh, he's just getting here, so we need to see what we got on the field. We don't know. We see a lot of talent, but Ohio State's different. This is a different offense, everything about it’s different. So we need to see that. Although we're encouraged with what we see.”
Simmons is expected to compete primarily with Tegra Tshabola and Zen Michalski for the starting right tackle job over the next few weeks, though Ohio State hasn’t yet named Fryar the starting left tackle and Day also threw freshman Luke Montgomery’s name into the mix when discussing the competition last week.
All of them are hoping to win a starting job this year, with Fryar and Tshabola saying during their interview sessions at the CareSource Football ProCamp that they are confident they’re ready to be Ohio State’s starting left and right tackle, respectively. But they’ve still welcomed Simmons into their unit and done what they can to help him acclimate quickly even though he’ll be competing with them for playing time.
“We're on the same team. We're trying to get the best guy on the field,” Tshabola said. “So I mean, we help each other out, we give each other encouragement, some tips and stuff like that.”
