Ryan Day searching for consistency from Ohio State offensive line

By Michael Cohen
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The play ended with a flick of the wrist from quarterback Kyle McCord to wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who sliced upfield to move the chains and keep the offense rolling. But 20 yards behind the play — scattered amid a pile of bodies strewn across the Ohio State backfield — was the kind of wreckage that surely sickened offensive line coach Justin Frye.  

His presumptive starter at left tackle, Josh Fryar, had been bowled over by star edge rusher J.T. Tuimoloau so that Fryar’s legs curled above his head like the early stages of a backward somersault. And on the opposite side, where Zen Michalski and Tegra Tshabola have split reps with the first-string offense, an inside move from edge rusher Jack Sawyer left Michalski on his hands and knees after whiffing at the line of scrimmage. McCord fled the pocket with Tuimoloau snatching at his heels.

In that respect, the Ohio State spring football game unfolded in a manner eerily similar to what local reporters have seen from the 14 practices that preceded it: A high-profile quarterback competition between McCord and Devin Brown getting muddled and mangled by an offensive line that head coach Ryan Day admitted is behind schedule in its quest to replace three starters from last year’s group. And while unrest at offensive tackle is significantly less enthralling to the public than an extended quarterback duel, the potential impact on the Buckeyes’ offense is anything but insignificant. Neither McCord nor Brown is likely to perform at an elite level if the pocket continues to erode the way it has this spring, and finding ways to solve that problem supersedes the quarterback debate in overall importance.

"It’s a delicate situation, for sure," Day said last week. "I think we believe in the guys that we have. Otherwise, you know, we’d be saying, ‘Yeah, we’ve got to bring in a guy.’ I think we believe in the guys. We know that they can do it. We’re looking for more consistency. I think if you rewind it a year from now and I was sitting up here and you were asking about Paris (Johnson Jr.) at left tackle, I’d be concerned. I was. He came a long way, and so I know these guys can as well. Justin does a great job teaching technique. But they’re going to have to do that here in the next couple of months."

The fact that Day’s comment came several days before Fryar’s uneven showing against Tuimoloau, and before Michalski and Tshabola seemed overwhelmed by most of the defensive ends they faced on Saturday, spoke to the seriousness of the Buckeyes’ issue. Losing Johnson and Dawand Jones to the NFL meant bidding farewell to an elite offensive tackle combination that surrendered just two sacks and 19 pressures last season. The unexpected departure of center Luke Wypler, who projects as a mid-round pick in this month’s draft, left Ohio State without another veteran starter who’d logged at least 825 snaps each of the last two years.

What the Buckeyes retained were two talented and experienced guards in Donovan Jackson (two sacks, 13 pressures in 2022) and Matthew Jones (one sack, 11 pressures in 2022) — two players the coaching staff hoped would anchor the offensive line by keeping hold of their respective positions. Day and Frye were questioned about the possibility of moving Jackson to tackle when they met with the media in early February, long before the start of spring practice, but they pushed that idea aside in favor of giving Fryar, Michalski and Tshabola time to develop into Ohio State’s next generation of tackles.

"There’s always a little bit of uncertainty just because they haven’t played, right?" Frye said when he met with reporters on Feb. 1. "But now that’s sheer excitement because that’s the coaching component of it. It’s fun. Finding out what a guy does really well and then where can that help us. Or finding out, oh, here’s a wart he may have. How do we clean that up, or how do we fix that or who do we put him next to to ease stress or concerns or questions or whatever that may be. This ain’t pro football now. You’re developing guys here."

But the development has been slow. None of the 231 snaps Fryar played last season came at left tackle, the position he’s been penciled into throughout the spring. Day refrained from saying Fryar, a rising senior, had won the job last week when asked if the position was solidified ahead of the spring game. And then the former three-star recruit struggled with Tuimoloau’s skill set in the early portions of Saturday’s scrimmage. Fryar spent most of the afternoon hovering on either side of adequate.

On the opposite side of the line, competing right tackles Michalski and Tshabola both arrived in Columbus with stronger pedigrees than Fryar, though neither player reached 100 snaps last season. Michalski, a rising junior, was a four-star prospect and the No. 21 offensive tackle in the 2021 recruiting class. Tshabola, a rising sophomore, was a four-star prospect and the No. 10 offensive tackle in the 2022 recruiting class. They combined to play zero snaps at the right tackle spot they’ve been splitting the last few months, but it’s worth noting Michalski earned 78 snaps at left tackle during mop-up duty in blowouts. Last week, Day said both Michalski and Tshabola have yet to reach the standard he expects from offensive tackles.

Another potential problem is at center, where sophomore Carson Hinzman ran with the starters to begin the spring game. Hinzman, who never saw the field last season, is in competition with Louisiana-Monroe transfer Victor Cutler Jr., a utility lineman with three years of experience scattered across left tackle (757 snaps), right tackle (366 snaps) and center (242 snaps). On an afternoon when defensive coordinator Jim Knowles limited his blitzes, the interior of Ohio State’s offensive line fell victim to stunts and twists instead. Defensive linemen Mike Hall Jr. and Tyleik Williams lived in the backfield. 

"We were very vanilla on defense today," Day said when asked about potential communication issues along the offensive line. "We didn't blitz one time, so there really isn't a lot of communication. This is one-on-one, me against you and technique. That's really what the spring is, we think. Then we start getting to schematics more a little bit at the end of spring, but (really) more in the preseason. So this is about being able to consistently do it.

"When we say, you know, ‘he flashed,’ what does that mean? That means he's done it once or twice. You've seen him do it. It's like coming home with an A in algebra, and then you expect them to come home with an A in algebra all the time. ... So that's what we're looking for. And that's what separates good from great players is being able to do it all the time. So we need to see more of that."

With only modest progress from 15 spring practices, an underwhelming offensive line has presented Ohio State's coaching staff with questions that are equal parts undesirable and difficult to answer: Can the trio of Fryar, Michalski and Tshabola produce a reliable pair of starting tackles when given a few more months to grow? Would shifting Jackson from left guard to left tackle allow Ohio State to unlock its best quintet of lineman, even if changing positions is not preferable? Are there external solutions in the transfer portal that the Buckeyes could — or should — consider? 

These are the types of queries Day and his assistants will ponder from now through August when the quarterback competition between McCord and Brown resumes. But the identity of the starter might not matter if the offensive line still sputters. 

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

Top stories from FOX Sports: