Tegra Tshabola will be Ohio State’s starting right guard for the first game of the season.
Ohio State’s biggest lingering position battle was settled on Tuesday when Ryan Day named Tshabola as the Buckeyes’ right guard to begin the 2024 season, though Day said he expects Ohio State to use more than five offensive linemen in the season opener against Akron on Saturday (3:30 p.m., Saturday).
Tshabola beat out Carson Hinzman in a preseason competition to win the job.
“Tegra will start at right guard for us,” Day said Tuesday said. “He’s earned the right to start in this game... He’s been consistent. Now, he’s got to go put it on the field.”
A third-year Buckeye, Tshabola will make his first career start when Ohio State opens its season against Akron on Saturday. He played in all 13 games as a backup offensive lineman last season for a total of 32 offensive snaps.
While Tshabola is unproven, his upside is high. The 6-foot-6, 327-pound redshirt sophomore from West Chester, Ohio, is the Buckeyes’ biggest offensive lineman, and he pairs his mass and length with rare athleticism for his size.
“Tegra's really athletic and can really sink his hips, and he's long,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said earlier this month. “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.”
Tshabola has cross-trained at both tackle and guard for much of his Ohio State career, but Ohio State had him focus specifically on playing guard this preseason, which he believes helped him win the starting job.
“It helped a lot just being able to have one target to focus on,” Tshabola said last week.
A four-star prospect out of Lakota West High School, Tshabola was ranked as the No. 104 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class.
He rounds out a starting offensive line that will also consist of left tackle Josh Simmons, left guard Donovan Jackson, center Seth McLaughlin and right tackle Josh Fryar.
Hinzman, Ohio State’s starting center last season, now projects to be the Buckeyes’ top backup along the interior offensive line. Luke Montgomery and Austin Siereveld will join him on the interior line two-deep. Zen Michalski and George Fitzpatrick are in line to be Ohio State’s top backup tackles with Tshabola now focused on playing right guard.
