What a difference a week makes for Ohio State’s offensive line.
Coming off of Ohio State’s first game without Josh Simmons against Nebraska, there were major concerns about whether the Buckeyes had enough remaining talent to field a successful offensive line for the rest of the season. Ohio State’s offensive line had struggled mightily against the Cornhuskers as the Buckeyes ran for only 64 yards on 31 carries, and the Buckeyes had no clear answer to fill their void at left tackle as Zen Michalski looked to be in over his head before suffering an injury of his own in the fourth quarter of that game.
The reason for concern seemed to be only exacerbated when Ryan Day said the Buckeyes would likely stick with Michalski at left tackle if he was healthy enough to play against Penn State. Michalski ended up being ruled out for that game, though, leading to the decision to move Donovan Jackson to left tackle and insert Carson Hinzman in Jackson’s usual starting spot at left guard.
That lineup got the job done in Happy Valley, leading the way for the Buckeyes to run for 176 yards and finish off the game with a drive on which Ohio State ran the ball 10 straight times and gained four first downs to run out the clock on a 20-13 win.
Now, Day is confident the Buckeyes have found a lineup up front that they can be successful with the rest of the season.
“Right now, we're going to stick with what we have,” Day said. “We feel like there was a good synergy coming out of that game.”
The biggest revelation from the Penn State game may have been the play of Hinzman, who had played only sparingly in Ohio State’s first seven games after starting all 12 regular-season games at center in 2023. Pro Football Focus gave Hinzman the second-highest grade of any Ohio State offensive lineman (66.7) behind only right tackle Josh Fryar against Penn State, including a team-high of 86.4 in pass blocking, and that performance set him up to be a full-time starter for the Buckeyes once again.
“He stepped up in a big way and showed us that he can play guard,” Day said. “So we're going to continue to go with Carson. We saw what we saw on film, and now he's got to keep building on it.”
Jackson didn’t get the same love from PFF, which gave Jackson a game grade of 39.4 including a goose-egg grade of 0.0 in pass blocking after he gave up two sacks to Penn State’s Abdul Carter. Ohio State, however, had a far more positive assessment of Jackson’s play.
OSU named Jackson as one of four offensive players of the game against Penn State along with Hinzman, Fryar and center Seth McLaughlin. And Day believes Jackson has great upside at his new position based on how he held his own against one of college football’s best edge rushers on the road in front of a crowd of more than 110,000 people.
“I think any time you're making a move like that in a big game and going against a high-end player like Carter is, there's a lot to process there. But he never flinched at all,” Day said. “I think (offensive line coach Justin Frye) did a great job of preparing him in one week. He had been getting reps out there in practice, but it's not the same as preparing to play in a game, especially when you're on the silent count, especially against a great player like Carter.
“We really did tailor the game the best we could around that. There was a couple of third downs we just had to call it and play it. And we did help him with the cadence that one time (where Carter jumped offsides to give Ohio State a first down). And then Carter got us on the other ones. But I thought Donnie absolutely just fought his tail off and played physical the whole time and wore those guys down and embraced a new role in a tough spot.
“So I think he can be a very good tackle. I mean, just watching his athleticism, his length, the way his feet move, he can be a good tackle for us. Now we've got to keep getting him the reps and keep getting more and more of the experience of being out there and confidence. But he's showing now that he can play both positions which I think is only going to help him.”
Tegra Tshabola was the lone offensive lineman who Ohio State didn’t grade as a champion for his performance against Penn State, and he was omitted from the players of the game selection as a result. But while Austin Siereveld has rotated with him at right guard in several games this season, Day said Ohio State is still committed to Tshabola as its starting RG.
“Austin's ready to go and he maybe would get some reps, but Tegra’s our right guard right now,” Day said.
“We feel like there was a good synergy coming out of that game.”– Ryan Day on Ohio State’s offensive line
Now that the offensive line has coalesced around a new starting lineup, the biggest question surrounding the unit is once again about its depth. Should any more injuries occur, particularly at tackle, the Buckeyes could once again find themselves in a problematic situation.
While Ohio State doesn’t plan on inserting him back into the starting lineup right now, Day said Michalski will remain an option at tackle when he gets healthy, though he is not expected to be available for Saturday’s game against Purdue. That might make Tshabola the next man up at tackle, where he spent most of the spring practicing before moving inside to guard, though George Fitzpatrick and Ian Moore would likely get the second-team snaps at tackle this week if Ohio State is able to get its starters out of the game early.
“They're working hard. They're getting the reps in practice. And they got to stand ready,” Day said Tuesday when asked about Fitzpatrick and Moore. “It's not always easy to be that guy who's one snap away but hasn't really been in the game much. So if it's appropriate, we'll try to get them in the game to get them some game reps, but they need to keep coming. They need to get the reps in practice and be prepared because you just never know how it's going to shake.”
That said, Ohio State is optimistic that the lineup of Jackson, Hinzman, McLaughlin, Tshabola and Fryar is one that it can achieve all of its goals behind. One promising game doesn’t prove that, however, so the Buckeyes must continue to build upon what they did well up front and fix what they didn’t do well as November progresses.
“The Penn State game's over. We got to worry about Purdue. We got to keep moving forward. So now we'll see kind of how things go as we move forward,” Day said.
