When entering his first season as Ohio State's head coach in 2019, Ryan Day made a statement that broke a small football convention.
Days before the Buckeyes' first game that year against Florida Atlantic, Day said eight offensive linemen would roll with the first unit: The five starters plus center Harry Miller, tackle Josh Alabi and tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere. Pundits covering the team, used to the traditional wisdom that offensive linemen shouldn't be rotated for chemistry purposes, were a bit surprised.
By Week 3, none of the trio were receiving any first-team snaps. Day over the years has often said players will both play at a given offensive line position only to mostly stick with the starters. The exception to this rule came in 2021 with Matt Jones, who frequently swapped in at left and right guard for Thayer Munford and Paris Johnson Jr. starting with game five against Rutgers.
In 2024, Day and the Buckeyes are back to walking the walk with an offensive line rotation – this time between Austin Siereveld and Tegra Tshabola at right guard.
"I think both of those guys deserve to play," Day said. "I mentioned that last week, and they both did. We'll continue to evaluate it in grade and make sure, but we all know we're going to need these guys. And that's the thing, whether it's TreVeyon (Henderson) and Quinshon (Judkins) or Austin and Tegra, these guys are team players, and they want to win. That's the number one thing here. It isn't about statistics or anything like that."
Tshabola beat out Carson Hinzman and – ultimately to a lesser extent as he faded in the competition and moved to center by late summer – Luke Montgomery to win Ohio State's starting right guard job in preseason camp. It was the only spot open for the taking after the Buckeyes returned three starters on the offensive line and brought Seth McLaughlin in from the transfer portal to man a fourth.
Tshabola's presence at right guard is no surprise. Sierveld is the unforeseen development in the mix here.
You'd be hard-pressed to find any Ohio State writers calling for Siereveld to so much as take a longing look at the Buckeyes' first offensive line unit in the spring. He didn’t come to Ohio State with the pedigree many of its other recruits do, ranked 300th overall and 15th among interior offensive linemen in the 247Sports composite rankings for the class of 2023.
The offensive line holds an argument to be the most developmental position in football. If anyone was thought to be ready in year two from that 2023 class, it was Montgomery, a top 100 national recruit. But when an injury left Donovan Jackson out for Week 1 at left guard, his replacement wasn't Hinzman or even Montgomery. It was Siereveld.
"First game, obviously you're going to have nerves being a first-time starter," Siereveld said. "But after the first couple of plays, I was good. I was just rolling."
Through starts against Akron and Western Michigan, Siereveld quickly proved worthy of the trust given him to start the season opener. That's why he found himself still in the mix when Jackson returned.
Tshabola started against Marshall this past Saturday, but Siereveld took the field in his place with the first team for no less than four drives, each of which ended in touchdowns. He's proven a formidable run-blocker, whether power blocking in gap schemes, occupying in zone or pulling to trap or lead on a run play. He came through with a ferocious outside trap block to clear a lane for a 14-yard TreVeyon Henderson touchdown on the below "super counter" play.
Both he and Tshabola have showcased great physical strength and athleticism in their opportunities. Day trusts both of them not to implode the offensive line when they enter the game, and perhaps that's buoyed by the trust in the seniors the Buckeyes have at center and right tackle.
"I think giving both of them a chance to catch their breath for a series or two is actually a good thing for a young player," Day said. "We look at that during the week. We'll rotate those guys during the week so that there's chemistry between Josh Fryar, Seth, and both of those guys when they're in there.
"I think when you practice that way and then you play that way, there isn't all of a sudden this chemistry issue or anything like that. As long as whoever's not in the game is really focused in, seeing the plays on a tablet, seeing the adjustments in real-time, I think that's good."
Day's talked often about the benefits the newly allowed tablets on college football sidelines bring, and the ability to keep whoever is swapped out between Tshabola and Siereveld in the flow of the game is one of them.
"I do think that is a benefit to having a tablet is although they're not in there getting the rep," Day said. "They can actually see what happened in the last series and making any kind of adjustments that are going on in-game."
In total, Tshabola played 32 snaps against the Thundering Herd while Siereveld played 26. Ohio State's offensive line appeared machine-like run blocking with either cog in place, gouging Marshall for 280 rushing yards at a clip of 9 yards per carry.
"I think guys, first off, are playing hard," Day said of the team's run-blocking on Tuesday. "They're running to the football, but they're getting to the next level better. I think you've seen that on film. Guys are getting up to the second level better on a few of the (plays) that we had organized for this past game. And you're seeing pad level lower and guys are rocking off the ball. And I think the running backs are running hard. But I don't think we're in any place right now to make any judgments on where we are."
“I think when you practice that way and then you play that way, there isn't all of a sudden this chemistry issue.”– Ryan Day on why he feels comfortable rotating at right guard
Whether Tshabola or Siereveld proves too good or Ohio State's competition proves too stiff to continue rotating both remains to be seen. Both Tshabola and Siereveld will get their biggest test yet when the Buckeyes open Big Ten play at Michigan State this weekend.
"We've got a new challenge ahead of us, a conference game on the road," Day said. "So those guys will help each other. And we'll see how this week of practice goes, and as we get closer to the game, put a plan together."
