‘All five are clicking’: Buckeyes offensive line gearing up for tone-setting Big Ten opener

COLUMBUS — The microscope will be on Ohio State quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Devin Brown Saturday at Indiana. By extension, the Buckeyes’ offensive line will be in the spotlight, too.

It’s only right, given those two position groups commanded most of the attention throughout most of the offseason. And for good reason.

In addition to replacing the highest-drafted quarterback in program history, C.J. Stroud, the Buckeyes also had to fill the spots of three NFL draftees up front: first-team All-American tackles Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones, plus two-year starting center Luke Wypler.

Indiana will be the first test for a new-look Ohio State offensive line, a group anchored by left guard Donovan Jackson and right guard Matthew Jones. They’ll be joined by left tackle Josh Simmons — a San Diego State transfer — center Carson Hinzman and right tackle Josh Fryar.

“The good thing about Simmons is he’s actually played in college games,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said this week. “Josh [Fryar] has played in games, actually has played significant amount of time. So that part’s good. Carson hasn’t, but it’s time to get out there.

“Again, we have to go with what we see in practice every day. And if they continue to perform the way they’ve done in practice — we say you sink to the level your training — then they’ll have an opportunity to grade out champions, and it’ll be a good day for them. But it’s time to get on the field and go see.”

Tackle Josh Fryar (left) and center Carson Hinzman (right), among other Ohio State offensive linemen, trot across the practice field during training camp on Aug. 11. (Andy Backstrom/Lettermen Row)

What’s funny is that Fryar, a Beech Grove native, made his first career start against Indiana last year while replacing Jones, who was sidelined Week 11. Now, Fryar’s first game as the Buckeyes’ everyday right tackle comes against his home state school. The thing is, the 2023 Hoosiers hardly look like last year’s team Ohio State clobbered 56-14 in the ‘Shoe.

Indiana might not necessarily be better this season, but head coach Tom Allen’s team is different. The Hoosiers have more than 20 scholarship transfers, including a pair of edge rushers — Andre Carter from Western Michigan and Lanell Carr Jr. from West Virginia — who will give Fryar and Simmons all they have.

Carter, in particular, poses a serious threat to Ohio State’s tackles. He’s coming off a seven-sack, 54-pressure season at Western Michigan, after all.

“I think he’s really good,” Fryar said. “I think his defense against the run is really good, and I think his pass rush is really good. … I think he plays with a high motor, and he never stops.”

Fryar noted that preparing for a team like Indiana with so many transfers can be tricky. Look at the Hoosiers’ defensive interior, and you’ll find another in former Texas Tech defensive tackle Philip Blidi.

Fryar explained that, along with studying the structure of Indiana’s defense, you are also watching how those transfers played at their previous schools. That process includes identifying how each of them defends the run as well as the pass and tracking what works well against them.

There are unknowns, and subsequently challenges, outside of Indiana’s personnel. Allen also hired former Ohio State senior advisor and analyst Matt Guerrieri as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

Guerrieri not only knows what Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles likes to do — he overlapped with Knowles at Duke from 2012-17 — but he’s also familiar with Ohio State’s offensive system and personnel, having just been on staff last year. It’s especially notable because Guerrieri is the Hoosiers’ defensive play-caller this fall.

It’s another wrinkle to an Indiana defense that’s already been creative schematically in recent matchups with the Buckeyes.

“Indiana has been known to throw a couple different fronts at you — maybe three, four, five. They may even throw six on there. But it’s our job to pick it up,” Jackson said. “That’s where it comes to practice and film. Three new guys on the line. It doesn’t really matter.

“We just gotta be able to be on the same page, five minds working as one and pick up what we see in front of us.”

Five minds working as one.

That’s the phrase Jackson kept coming back to Wednesday in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

Ohio State left guard Donovan Jackson celebrates after a play against Penn State during the 2022 season. Jackson was one of four Buckeyes football players to earn Big Ten Distinguished Scholars honors. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Communication is always important in the trenches, but even more so versus a scheme-heavy defense on the road in a season opener. Fryar made it clear that making calls won’t be solely on the shoulders of Hinzman, a redshirt freshman and first-time starter who didn’t play a single snap last year.

“I think all of us have to communicate, not just Carson,” Fryar said. “Carson’s the focal point, he’s the center. But if we’re all five on the same page, I think we’ll do our job.”

Fryar believes “all five are clicking” up front for the Buckeyes. He’s been a big part of what offensive coordinator Brian Hartline calls the “unselfishness” of the Ohio State offensive line.

So has Simmons, who flipped from right tackle, where he started 13 games for SDSU last year, to left tackle, where he had never played before.

“I mean to be able to change positions in the best interest of the team,” Hartline said last week. “That typically is not always easiest for the individual. So that’s pretty impressive. To see them grow and mature and get better. I mean, across the board, that’s been impressive.

“Greatness is measured in increments of consistency. Anybody can do it once, most can do it once. But those that do it all the time change their level of greatness. That’s what we’re chasing.”

Jackson emphasized that it’s an ongoing process. But he and his teammates believe in that process.

The next step takes place Saturday in Bloomington. It’s a chance for a much-discussed position group to show why it can be a strength, and not a weakness, for the Buckeyes in 2023.

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