Chip Kelly’s Thursday press conference had one question remaining.
At the end of an interview session mostly focused on Will Howard’s coronation with some offensive line talk sprinkled in, Rivals’ Bill Landis started a question about a player Kelly mentioned before, offensive guard Tegra Tshabola.
“What stands out about him as you watch him? And as a guy who's, I think, like 6'6, 330 (pounds), playing guard –”
“That’s what stands out about him,” Kelly said, snapping his fingers with a smile and pointing at the reporter.
After the question was finished, Kelly elaborated on everything else that stands out about Tshabola.
“I think Tegra's really athletic and can really sink his hips, and he's long,” Kelly said. “He's really long, and when you can play long on the offensive line and keep defensive linemen away from people because of your length, that's a really big deal for us.
“We like offensive linemen that are big, because big people beat up little people. So we like Tegra a lot.”
It’s been an interesting yet uncertain first two weeks of preseason camp on Ohio State’s offensive line.
Sickness swept through the position room, with multiple players limited or out altogether on multiple days. Starting left guard Donovan Jackson has missed time. Starting left tackle Josh Simmons has missed time. Carson Hinzman, slated to duel with Tshabola for the starting right guard job, has missed time, as has backup tackle George Fitzpatrick.
Only now are the Buckeyes approaching something resembling full strength on the offensive line, which will hopefully allow them to make some decisions about their depth chart. Tshabola leads a group of players who have made an impression despite those circumstances, including likely starting center Seth McLaughlin and backup tackles Zen Michalski and Austin Siereveld.
“We have finally gotten through some of this funky illness that's going on, so we're finally getting these guys out there,” Ryan Day said on Thursday. “We're just a little bit behind there. I will say that Tegra's been there the whole time and has really showed improvement. I got to watch that film from today, today was a physical practice. But I felt him, especially in the last couple of drives. I think he's taken a step forward for sure.”
Kelly noted that Ohio State’s defense had the upper hand on its offense early in preseason camp. Illness or not up front, it was expected that the Buckeyes’ defensive line would win a lot of days early in August. Ohio State returns stars JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton to lead a room with plenty of young, talented options off the bench. The Buckeyes’ offensive line struggled to run the football to the tune of just 4.3 yards per carry – their worst mark since 2004 – in 2023. Three returning starters and McLaughlin, an Alabama transfer with 25 career starts for the Crimson Tide, are aiming for much greater in 2024.
With the bug that's floated around, the depth of Ohio State’s offensive line has been tested so far in camp. But that’s opened the door for the likes of Tshabola, Michalski and Siereveld to step up.
“When you got to go against Jack and JT and Tyleik and Kenyatta and that group every day you can't help but get better,” Kelly said. “And I think those guys have taken advantage of those opportunities that they've gotten and you can see growth from the spring until now.
“I think the one thing that we know is it's going to be a long season, so you’ve gotta develop those guys. You're just not going into the season with five O-linemen, it's just not going to happen when you're playing a 16-game season. ... You never wish an illness or for a person to miss practice on anybody, but there are sometimes some benefits of it. And the benefit of it is those guys that have gotten extra reps in this last week or so have really benefitted.”
“You're just not going into the season with five O-linemen, it's just not going to happen when you're playing a 16-game season.”– Chip Kelly on the importance of offensive line depth
Day noted that McLaughlin has been the team’s “most consistent” offensive lineman in the first two weeks of practice.
Four of the five offensive line starters are settled with Tshabola and Hinzman battling for the final spot, but the next priority for the Buckeyes is establishing who their third offensive tackle will be behind Simmons and Josh Fryar. That’s where Michalski and Siereveld, the latter of whom has practiced at both tackle and guard, come into play.
“I think Zen and Austin are two guys that have really stepped up and kind of caught your eye that maybe (did) not as much as it was in the spring,” Kelly said. “But they're taking advantage of their reps. One of the things you always preach as a coach, and sometimes it's coach speak, ‘Don't count your reps, make your reps count.’ But those two guys are two guys that have really made their reps count.”
Tshabola is also an emergency option to slide out to tackle – where he played last season –if needed. But Day would rather let him focus on playing the interior.
“We're trying to keep Tegra at guard right now and let him master that,” Day said. “I think it is hard when you go – especially if somebody hasn't played a ton of football – bouncing back and forth. I will say that Zen has shown some signs, he really has. We're hoping that we can find the third tackle from the tackles that we have. George has been out for a while, so it's been hard to get him going.
“One guy that has flashed that's kind of gone back and forth (between guard and tackle) is Austin Siereveld. He's really shown some good signs and hopefully this moving from guard to tackle can pay off for him down the road. But yeah, if we're in the situation (where) we have to move Tegra out, he's done it before, but we really want to keep him at guard if possible.”
The Buckeyes hope to settle those lingering questions at right guard and tackle depth post-haste. Tshabola seems to have emerged as a leader at the former, but Hinzman will try to have his say this weekend as Ohio State holds its second scrimmage of camp Saturday.
“We got to get Carson out there,” Day said. “We got to get him back with his feet underneath him and I'll have to look at the film today. But also Saturday will be a big evaluation for those guys.”
