With resurgent summer, dialed in Victor Cutler Jr. coming into his own at Ohio State

COLUMBUS — When the preseason AP Poll came out Monday, Ohio State graduate center Victor Cutler Jr. and his roommate, running back Evan Pryor, were mid-discussion.

Then the “shock” set in for Cutler, who transferred to Ohio State this winter.

“I literally said to myself, ‘Wow, I’m on the No. 3 team in the country now,’” Cutler recalled. “From where I came from, it just means a lot. Because a lot of people don’t know my story.”

Cutler continued: “A year ago today if someone would have told me I’d be playing for Ohio State in a year’s time, I wouldn’t believe them. Now that I’m here, it’s just like, ‘Wow.’”

Three years ago, Cutler was starting games for an 0-10 Louisiana-Monroe team. The Warhawks never won more than five games in a season in his four years at the school.

Cutler wasn’t a top-100 recruit. He was nowhere close. In fact, in the 2019 class, he was the No. 95 prospect in the state of Louisiana alone, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

Cutler committed to ULM, a local pick for the Detroit-born lineman who moved to Monroe when he was 11 years old when his father got a job at Chase Bank that required his family to relocate.

Cutler started 21 games at ULM and appeared in 29 contests over the last three seasons. In that span, he got the nod at center, right tackle and left tackle — take the 2021 season, for instance: Cutler started four games at center, two at right tackle and one at left tackle.

Last year, however, he started 12 games at left tackle. He flashed more than just Sun Belt talent, including when he combined for just one pressure and sack allowed in a total of 56 passing blocking snaps against Texas and Alabama, according to Pro Football Focus.

Victor Cutler Jr. lines up at right tackle for Louisiana-Monroe. He started games at right tackle, left tackle and center during his four-year ULM career. (John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Cue the “shock” again.

Not long after Cutler entered the transfer portal the first week of January, he got a call from Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye. The Buckeyes were looking for a center following the early departure of two-year starting center Luke Wypler, who wound up being selected by the Cleveland Browns in the sixth round of this year’s NFL Draft.

“I was just like, ‘Ooh, center?’” Cutler said. “I was like, ‘OK, so I gotta think about that. Do I want to go back to center or do I want to go somewhere else and play tackle?’”

Cutler weighed his options and chose Ohio State, which he deemed the best opportunity for him to develop into an NFL prospect. Additionally, he was drawn to the culture, having taken a successful visit with “genuine dudes,” such as seasoned guards Donovan Jackson and Enokk Vimahi.

“Vic Cutler’s my guy, man,” Vimahi said Tuesday. “A lot of our transfer guys are sponges, just taking on information, taking on all the play calls on the offense. And Vic has been doing great.”

It took Cutler a while to reach that point, though — to feel like himself again.

When spring ball rolled around, redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman, not Cutler, was the center seizing Wypler’s old job. Cutler got first-team reps from time to time, but Hinzman appeared to be in the driver’s seat, less than a year after he joined the program from Saint Croix Central in Hammond, Wisconsin.

Hinzman ran with the first-team offense in the spring game. Cutler ran with the second team.

And, with Ohio State veteran Jakob James returning from injury this summer, the question became: Would Cutler fall to option three at the center position?

Cutler made sure that didn’t happen.

“When I came here, I had a lot of external distractions messing with me, some personal stuff that was going on,” he said. “But I removed all that. When I was just focused truly on football and everything, it just became so much better.

“I was ready to get back in those pads. ‘Cause I just felt like I didn’t show my best in spring. I wanted another opportunity because I knew that wasn’t me out there. I know the type of person I was, and I know I didn’t play like that. I just knew I had to step up.”

So Cutler transformed his body. He went up five pounds in “good weight” between spring and summer and now stands 6-foot-3, 300. A big part of that was truly understanding what Ohio State had to offer. He had to get used to asking for things he didn’t have access to at ULM, even if it was just asking for an extra smoothie or inquiring about hydration or sleeping habits.

Cutler said he really bought into the workouts Ohio State strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti was running. He also took his recovery from those workouts more seriously.

Ohio State center Victor Cutler Jr. prepares to snap the ball during the Buckeyes’ 2023 spring game. (Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK)

“I think he understands what we’re trying to do now,” Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said last week. “And the resources that we have here. He’s a different looking body than he was in the spring.”

Day also made it clear that the competition at center had “heated up” between Hinzman and Cutler, in particular. James, meanwhile, seems to be on the outside looking in at the moment.

That was a clear indication of Cutler’s growth since the spring. Still, Cutler admitted there remain “growing pains.” After all, before transferring to Ohio State, he hadn’t played center since 2021. Shifting back inside requires a mindset change. He’s no longer on an island at tackle.

“It’s just the physicality I had to get used to again,” Cutler explained, “like I had to block bigger bodies instead of the leaner, faster guys.”

Cutler said he’s still getting used to snapping again as well. But he pointed out that it’s getting more natural, where he doesn’t have to think about it all the time, and he can focus more on his blocking assignment.

One on hand, seeing the field is different, and more all-encompassing, at center than it is at tackle. Plus, anchoring down against heavier defensive tackles can be difficult. On the other hand, Cutler said his athleticism and twitch, which were necessary on the outside, are now an advantage on the inside.

His adjustment is moving along, hence why Cutler is amid what he calls a “healthy competition” with Hinzman and why Cutler was one of the first two Buckeyes players to shed his black stripe during training camp.

Cutler appears to be finding his groove. Vimahi agrees.

“I do,” said Vimahi, who shares reps with Cutler when Cutler is practicing with the second-team offense. “I’ve been lucky enough to be next to him taking some of those reps. And we talk on the field a lot. Just to grow our connection on the field and off the field has been special.”

A smiley Cutler is excited to be in Columbus. He loves his teammates. He is embracing the gravity of playing for an FBS powerhouse like the Buckeyes. And he missed the bustle of a city that he said goodbye to when he left Detroit for Monroe as a kid.

Now, he has that back, along with his focus.

Happiness can breed personal development, especially at a place like Ohio State.

“I haven’t been in a program like this,” a centered Cutler said. “I felt like I’ve gotten bigger, faster and stronger. Like to a level I didn’t even know I could reach yet.”

The post With resurgent summer, dialed in Victor Cutler Jr. coming into his own at Ohio State appeared first on On3.