Ohio State has suffered a second major injury to its offensive line.
Seth McLaughlin tore his Achilles on Tuesday and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season, Ryan Day confirmed Wednesday. Day said McLaughlin will undergo surgery next week.
The injury forces Ohio State to replace its starting center going into a defining stretch of its season that begins Saturday with a top-five matchup against Indiana. McLaughlin’s injury is a massive loss for the Buckeyes as his stabilizing presence in the middle of the offensive line has been seen as one of the biggest factors in Ohio State’s improvement in the trenches this season. The Alabama transfer earned midseason All-American honors from several media outlets and started all of the Buckeyes’ first 10 games this season at center.
He’s the second starter on Ohio State’s offensive line to be sidelined by a major injury this season. Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons went down with a season-ending knee injury in the Buckeyes’ sixth game of the year vs. Oregon.
Ohio State reshuffled its offensive line following Simmons’ injury, ultimately settling on a combination of Donovan Jackson at left tackle and Carson Hinzman at left guard with McLaughlin at center, Tegra Tshabola at right guard and Josh Fryar at center. Now, the Buckeyes will have to retool their offensive line again.
The first option for replacing McLaughlin will be moving Hinzman back to center, where he started all 12 of Ohio State’s regular-season games last year. With Hinzman moving to center, Austin Siereveld will step in as the Buckeyes’ new left guard after starting Ohio State’s first two games of the season at that position while Jackson was sidelined by a hamstring injury.
Should Ohio State need to make any further changes, it could turn to Joshua Padilla, who took second-team reps at center in the Buckeyes’ last two games against Purdue and Northwestern. Luke Montgomery, who has taken second-team reps at left guard for much of the season, could also be an option to enter the lineup at LG if needed.
