The plan is still the plan.
When Ohio State faces Tennessee on Saturday, Ryan Day said the Buckeyes expect to rotate Tegra Tshabola, Austin Siereveld and Luke Montgomery on the offensive line. That is if all three practice well on Wednesday.
“I felt like practice (Tuesday) was excellent. I thought we had a bunch of energy in practice. Guys were competing. It’s a combination of good-on-good and also against scouts, and there was just good energy at practice being outside,” Day said. “We’ll do that again (Wednesday). I think coming off of (Wednesday’s practice), the last opportunity in pads this week, we’ll get a feel for exactly what that rotation looks like. There’s been some good, positive mojo up there. Guys are getting after it.”
Following Seth McLaughlin’s Achilles tear, Carson Hinzman moved over to center and Siereveld moved to left guard opposite Tshabola. That iteration of the offensive line, which also featured Donovan Jackson and Josh Fryar at the tackles, underwhelmed in Ohio State’s loss to Michigan, as the Buckeyes ran the ball 26 times for 77 yards, an average of 2.9 yards per attempt.
Day said Wednesday that a rotation involving Tshabola, Siereveld and Montgomery could lead to improvements in that area.
"I think you’re going to see Austin kind of going back and forth," Day said. "Luke has been at left guard during these last couple weeks of practice. Tegra stayed at right. Austin will be the swing man because he’s done both. I think you’re going to see a rotation at both spots."
Day has seen a “steady increase” in Montgomery’s performance in practice this season, and he looks forward to seeing the sophomore show off that improvement on the field. Understanding Tennessee has a formidable defensive front, Day believes adding Montgomery to the mix could provide a spark. He'll look for Siereveld to provide the same energy as he rotates on both sides of Hinzman.
“They know how they need to play in this game,” Day said of Ohio State’s offensive line. “Not that everything has to be perfect, but we gotta rock off the ball and knock people back. They have a good front. Might we swing and miss every once in a while? OK. But we’re not gonna swing and miss by not being aggressive. We’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to go after these guys and make sure we’re moving back the line of scrimmage. We gotta make sure we do that again (Wednesday) in practice.”
In addition to the offensive line, Day said TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins also need to be at their best this weekend.
“It’s important for them to have their best game this year in this game, both TreVeyon and Quinshon,” Day said. “You know, they had a good season this year. They’ve done some really good things, but now we gotta be at our best. We gotta run downhill. Everybody is a part of that. Will (Howard) is a part of that. The receivers are a part of that. The tight ends and, obviously, the offensive line and running backs are a critical part of that.
“You’ve heard me say this before: 3-yard runs gotta be 5-yard runs. We got to take care of the football. We got to get downhill. The first four yards are the most important. We got to get four yards on every run. Then, after that, it’s up to them. They know they want to play their best game. I think their preparation has been good. We got to continue to have a good one (Wednesday), but there was some good energy (Tuesday). I think the runs fit well. We got to be creative on how we get them the ball as well. I think that’s a big part of this game plan.”
If both position rooms find success against Tennessee, Ohio State’s offense will be hard to stop, Day said.
“We’ve played some good teams this year. We’ve had three top-five opponents, and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with everybody and won two of them,” Day said. “We came up short against Oregon, but they have some good players, too, and they made some plays. But we know what our capability is, and we want to make sure that we’re playing our best game on defense, our best game on offense and our taking care of the football. Then, obviously, on special teams, you’ve seen us really make a major impact in the second half of the season. … We have the capability to do that.”
