Lessons Learned from Justin Frye about state of Ohio State O-Line halfway through camp
COLUMBUS — Ohio State is 11 practices into training camp. But Buckeyes offensive line coach Justin Frye was quick to remind reporters Tuesday that they still have 18 days until their season opener at Indiana.
“It’s still just early on in camp and you’re trying to play the shell game to find your five best, and we’re really still in the middle of that,” Frye said. “You’re hoping guys can kind of settle up and finalize that. And we’ll get to that soon. But it’s really to get good looks, good competition. See who’s good right, who’s good left, who’s good working together that way.”
Frye was more buttoned up than head coach Ryan Day, who said Monday that — if he had to project the tackle groupings — he’d put San Diego State redshirt sophomore transfer Josh Simmons and redshirt freshman Tegra Tshabola on the left side and redshirt junior Josh Fryar and true freshman Luke Montgomery on the right side.
As for the center battle, well, Day narrowed that down to redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman and Louisiana-Monroe graduate transfer Victor Cutler Jr., but he said he wasn’t ready to put one ahead of the other.
Frye was asked about those position battles Tuesday. Although he didn’t reveal much, he did provide some insight on his expectations and standards.
Lettermen Row is recapping our “Lessons Learned” from Frye’s session with the media.
Maturation of Josh Simmons sticks out
Frye first recruited Simmons when he was coaching at UCLA. At the time, Simmons was receiving a horde of Power Five offers. Rather than taking any of them, though, he stayed local and committed to San Diego State, which is about a 10-minute drive from Helix Charter High School — where Simmons emerged as the No. 31 California prospect in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Industry.
Now, after a year as the Aztecs’ everyday right tackle, Simmons is in the running at Ohio State to replace the No. 6 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, Paris Johnson Jr. Close to 800 offensive snaps and starting experience against the likes of Arizona and Utah last year went a long way for Simmons.
“He’s a more mature guy,” Frye said. “That’s the thing, when you get these guys from the transfer portal, they’ve known college football. So even with some of those younger guys that came mid-year, they’re really still just first-year guys. [Simmons has] been in a locker room. He’s played in college football games. So I think the speed of the game for him is a little slower than an actual rookie.”
Frye repeated the four attributes he looks for in an offensive lineman: base, bend, balance and burst. He pointed out that Simmons had those coming out of high school. Since, Simmons has built on that foundation, Frye said. And now Simmons is buying into the Buckeyes’ culture.
‘Game slows down’ for Josh Fryar because of his positional versatility
Back in April, Fryar estimated that he had made six or seven position changes in his career. Add another to the list. After spending the spring as the Buckeyes’ go-to left tackle, Fryar is back to the right side of the of the line, where he made a significant impact down the stretch of last season.
Fryar was Ohio State’s No. 6 O-Lineman and extra tight end in heavy packages for most of the 2022 campaign. Against Indiana and Michigan, however, he was a starter-level contributor. He made his first career start versus the Hoosiers in Week 11 and then, two weeks later, he played the lion’s share of right guard snaps in The Game.
Being able to swing from right to left and left to right isn’t something every offensive lineman is capable of doing. But Fryar fits the bill, and, according to Frye, it’s a rewarding skill.
“I think the game slows down for him because he’s seen it through broader eyes,” Frye said. “I can be more comfortable in space because I know I’m really going to get my guard here on this slide protection, I’m really not getting any help so I need to work this set, this technique, whatever that may be. So I think [it’s] just having a bigger picture of the speed of the game, the spatial awareness of the game and not just living in a box.”
Frye explained that a lot of inexperienced offensive linemen have a survivalist mindset initially.
“Your mind can be like, ‘Yes, I got that guy,’” Frye said.
But as soon as a curveball is thrown their way, such as a sift or a squeeze or a combo block, “there’s more variables that can cause paralysis by analysis,” he noted.
“Whereas when you’ve had more reps, you’ve had more inside, outside looks, you can kind of trim the fat and keep it right back into what you need to do. And I think that’s helping [Fryar] right now on both sides.”
Frye has had only one true freshman start an opener before
Significant buzz has surrounded Montgomery since his name was brought up repeatedly at Big Ten Media Days last month in Indianapolis. Montgomery enrolled early and practiced with the Buckeyes in the spring, but he’s taken a big step toward seeing the field this summer.
“He’s just another freshman that’s bought in and is working really hard,” Frye said of Montgomery. “Gotta get through camp, gotta go that way, and he’s just ultimately got to keep doing what he’s doing and continue to grow and be a better football player.”
Montgomery was a crown jewel of the 2023 Ohio State recruiting class. The No. 2 Ohio prospect last cycle now appears to be competing with Fryar for the starting right tackle job. Fryar will be tough to be budge, for one — but, also, starting as a true freshman, especially at tackle, is remarkably difficult.
Frye was asked Tuesday what it would take for him to start a true freshman on the offensive line.
“They’ve gotta be [one of] the five best and help us go win the game,” Frye said. “I’m gonna treat them like anybody else. If they were ready to do that and ready to play, then you have to feel comfortable in that. I’ve been involved with major college football, whether as a player, GA or as a coach since 2002, and I’ve had one Day 1 true freshman starter up front. It’s just hard.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t be done, but it’s hard. But I’ve also had guys that have played as true freshmen. So if they’re ready, and they’re able to help you win the game and it’s in that fit, then those guys can do that.”
That lone true freshman who got the nod under Frye? That was Sean Rhyan at UCLA in 2019. Rhyan wound up being a third-round selection of the Green Bay Packers in last year’s NFL Draft. But Frye conceded that Rhyan only started the UCLA opener that year because of game week injuries.
Donovan Jackson is the leader of this Ohio State O-Line
Offensive line discourse this offseason has centered around the three starting jobs for the taking: both tackle spots and center. After all, the Buckeyes have to replace three NFL Draft picks there. Whoever wins those position battles will join returning guards Matthew Jones and Donovan Jackson.
Jones is a sixth-year player, but Jackson — the On3 Industry Ranking’s No. 14 overall prospect in the 2021 class and a media-voted first-team All-Big Ten performer in 2022 — has emerged as the leader of the Buckeyes’ offensive line.
“He’s just more comfortable being in a vocal position,” Frye said. “I might see something as a coach that now I want to go up and tell the group, but I can just go to Donovan and say, ‘Hey, get this fixed. This happened, here’s what it is. That’s your job because on 3rd-and-7, I’m not kick sliding next to you. That guy is or that guy is, so you gotta go get it fixed.’”
Frye continued: “Confrontation’s not easy, it’s not comfortable, you have to make yourself comfortable with that. And you have to be comfortable being exposed that way, knowing that you might still make a mistake, too, but they look at you knowing you’re gonna get it rectified or corrected. So I think that’s where his growth has been off the field the most.”
Jackson is soft spoken and noticeably kind in nature. But when he crosses the “Scarlet line” on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center practice field, he can flip the switch.
“He knows how to do that,” Frye said. “He’s doing a great job with that.”
Buckeyes are ‘getting closer’ to naming starters up front
So if Ohio State is 11 practices into training camp, and there are 18 days until the ball kicks off in Bloomington, when does it become the right time to get that starting lineup set?
“Yeah, you don’t want to drag it all the way out,” Frye said. “We’re getting closer to that. They’ll know and we’ll know, and we’re getting there. Now it’s like you start seeing it, and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s it. Now these guys can really roll together.’”
Frye added: “Mike [Sollenne] and I and Coach [Joe] Philbin and Coach Day and the whole staff, we’re evaluating and grading every snap of every guy so that when we tee the ball off versus Indiana, we’re playing our 5, 6, 7, 8 best, whatever that may be.”
For now, Ohio State’s offensive linemen will keep trying to stack good days.
“That’s when guys kind of pull apart and separate,” Frye said.
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