It’s too early to provide a definitive answer on whether Ohio State’s offensive line will be of the caliber it needs to win a national championship in 2024.
That’d be true regardless of what happened and against who in Week 1, but it’s especially true when anchor left guard Donovan Jackson missed the first game of the Buckeyes’ season against Akron.
That said, it provided early insight into what the Buckeyes will need to improve upon as they embark on an all-in campaign. One of the top areas of concern is run blocking.
“There were good snaps. There were some plays that we got to the perimeter, we didn't quite make that guy miss a couple of times,” Ryan Day said on Tuesday. “There were some other times where – there was one in particular into the boundary, (a lineman) pulled around, we didn't quite identify the backer that we had. There were a handful of things there.
“So yeah, we're looking to be more explosive and everybody's got to own it. Everyone's got to be a part of it. There were some good things as the game went on, but we've gotta see more improvement in Week 2.”
Taking an honest look at things, Ohio State didn’t block poorly on the whole against the Zips.
There were no sacks allowed, even if Will Howard had to escape pressure a few times. There were no tackles for loss by Akron, even if things didn’t go perfectly on the ground. Ultimately, Ohio State did manage 170 rushing yards on 5.2 yards per carry, which is decent, and Akron quietly finished with the nation's No. 52 rush defense in terms of yards per carry in 2023.
It’s simply the consistency that needs to improve. TreVeyon Henderson gashed Akron for a 9-yard gain on the Buckeyes’ first run of the season, but then on Ohio State’s second drive, it could only scrounge up 12 yards in six carries. All told, the Buckeyes picked up just 4.8 yards per attempt in the first half.
“I'm not sure how many rushing yards we ended up rushing for, but there's always yards that are left out there,” center Seth McLaughlin said. “There were a lot of plays that were one block away from being huge runs, and we just got to keep working on correcting those one-offs.”
One missed assignment, one broken tackle, one second longer on a block. Football often functions in such tiny missteps that can be the difference between forgettable plays and ones that alter games.
McLaughlin is in his third year starting at a big-time college football program, the first two being at Alabama in 2022 and 2023. He’s seen what it’s like for units to gel and start getting that final block needed to pick up bigger chunks on the ground. In his view, you can’t put such things on a timeline.
“It's kind of randomness,” McLaughlin said. “We just have to keep going. Sometimes when you miss one block, it's kind of like, ‘Oh crap, I knew I was supposed to do that.’ It's just a matter of doing it.”
One advantage Ohio State was thought to possess over its 2023 offensive line unit was experience. The Buckeyes entered 2024 with 91 collective starts among their first five, more than double the 43 it opened last campaign with.
“There were a lot of plays that were one block away from being huge runs, and we just got to keep working on correcting those one-offs.”– Seth McLaughlin
Jackson accounted for 26 starts, opening every game for Ohio State in 2022 and 2023 at left guard, so they only ended up with 65 collectively going into Week 1. McLaughlin, responsible for another 25 of them, was playing at Ohio State for the first time this Saturday. Flanking him were two road pavers making their first collegiate start, redshirt sophomore Tegra Tshabola at right guard and redshirt freshman Austin Siereveld filling in for Jackson at left.
“We're not in the excuse-making business, so those guys gotta go out and play really, really well,” Day said of Siereveld and Tshabola. “That's what we expect. We're at Ohio State, so let's go. But I'm predicting that this week they have a really good week of practice and they keep growing from it and they build from it and they have a point of reference moving forward.”
For McLaughlin’s part playing in between them, he felt Tshabola and Siereveld did well given the circumstances. Ohio State’s running game did seem to settle in during the second half, gathering 83 yards in 15 carries – 5.5 yards per attempt – with two rushing scores.
“I'm proud of them,” McLaughlin said. “For coming out and having their first start, I thought they did well. You kind of have those jitters. I think I can't speak to how they were feeling, but I know how I felt when I got my first playing time. There were some jitters. Kind of had to get in the flow of that as a young guy getting your first start. And once they got in the flow and they felt comfortable, and after those initial jitters wore off, we played really well.”
A player should perhaps never be judged on his Pro Football Focus grade alone, but PFF backs up the suggestion Ohio State has potential but has room to grow in run blocking. The Buckeyes graded out at 70.2 in run blocking as a team but finished at 78.6 in the pass blocking category. McLaughlin graded out the highest individually on the ground among the first five linemen with a score of 69.3, followed by right tackle Josh Fryar at 67.5, Tshabola at 66.5, left tackle Josh Simmons at 65.1 and Siereveld at 60.4.
It may surprise some readers to know that tight end Gee Scott Jr. was Ohio State’s highest-graded run blocker regardless of position against the Zips, grading out at a 72, albeit in a small sample size of eight run-blocking snaps. Fellow tight end Will Kacmarek finished third behind McLaughlin with a grade of 67.5 in 11 snaps on run plays.
“Good. I really think we did a great job,” Kacmarek said of how Ohio State’s tight ends blocked against Akron. “That's been a huge focus for us in the offseason, spring ball, fall camp, so I think we're going to continue to get better at that and just show that we're a good blocking unit.”
Day added on Tuesday that a clip of Kacmarek where the Ohio transfer pancakes a defender 7 yards downfield was shown to the team as an example of the effort the Buckeyes are looking for on the ground.
For comparison – and again sample size should be noted here – Cade Stover and Scott finished with run-blocking grades of 54.4 and 41.1, respectively, as the top two tight ends on the Buckeyes’ 2023 depth chart.
Asked if he feels like a “tone-setter” for Ohio State as a blocker, Kacmarek said he does.
“Yes, I do,” Kacmarek said. “Coach (Keenan Bailey) and the whole tight end room, that has been our message the entire year is just to be the most physical, hardest-playing unit (on the team). That’s something that we do every day in practice. You’ll see it all the time during practice. There’s nothing really different from what we do in practice and what we do in the game. So, we’re just playing as hard as we can.”
Kacmarek also confirmed that he graded out a champion, as did another unnamed Buckeye tight end. A team’s successes or failures running the football are often placed at the feet of offensive linemen. But one of the things that makes football great is that all 11 players are part of each play’s success.
"That has been our message the entire year is just to be the most physical, hardest-playing unit (on the team)."– Will Kacmarek on the tight ends' run-blocking focus
Better blocking from tight ends and receivers is also required to lift the Buckeyes from the 4.2 yards per carry they averaged in 2023, the program's worst mark since 2004.
“I thought they, as a group, blocked well,” Day said of how the team’s tight ends played against Akron. “I think we had two champions there. There's going to be more production coming out of the room moving forward, but they did a nice job and so now we've got to keep building on that as well. A couple of really good effort clips.”
As noted in the past, it will also help to have a running threat at quarterback like Will Howard (18 rushing yards on Saturday to make it 939 for his career) and an offensive coordinator known for rushing success in Chip Kelly. It also helps to have perhaps the nation's best running back tandem in Henderson and Quinshon Judkins.
Many great – or even simply good – Ohio State front fives have gotten off to rocky starts before surging as their campaign went on. The Buckeyes’ 2014 unit played a big hand in the team’s lone loss to Virginia Tech in Week 2, but by the end of the year, it was one of the strengths that won it a national title.
With Ohio State hoping to get Jackson back soon and more development to come, McLaughlin believes that the team is close to getting that one last block it needs in the running game.
“Yeah,” McLaughlin said. “The way the guys approach each day to prepare for the game, I think we're getting closer to that. It's game one. We've got a few good games to really work on that and iron out our technique and our chemistry.”
Only time will tell if that sentiment holds true.
