The biggest injury of them all…center Seth McLaughlin lost for the year with an achilles injury. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Injuries to the biggest Buckeyes threatened to derail Ohio State’s championship dreams. But the line has shuffled into new positions and found a way to help the offense be explosive in the playoffs.
Atlanta, GA – Chip Kelly makes people laugh about the adversity now.
But first he had to make something clear. He’s not into narratives, the storylines of a season. Every day needs too much work to think about such things.
Then he was asked if he thought the Ohio State offense was in trouble when (four games after left tackle Josh Simmons was lost for the season at Oregon) All-American center Seth McLaughlin was lost for the season after an injury in practice.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
“Was that the narrative?” Kelly asked, poking back for fun at the narrative idea.
“Yes, very much so,” the reporter responded.
Laughter filled the room.
“Thank goodness we were just day to day,” Kelly said.
Thank goodness, indeed, for Ohio State’s football future. You could argue the day-to-day focus and resilient mentality of the offensive linemen and their coach, Justin Frye, is the most important narrative for why the Buckeyes will play Notre Dame on Monday night for the national championship.
Offensive line injuries can wreck a season. Many wondered if it would after the running game went nowhere against Michigan. But the Buckeyes are in Atlanta riding an explosive offense and are favored to win their first title since the 2014 season.
“Resilience is probably the word that I use the most, just overcoming difficult situations throughout the year, some really good moments, some tough moments, but that’s football,” head Buckeye Ryan Day said. “Justin and that whole group has stuck together.”
Resilience Road began when Simmons’ left knee injury knocked him out. Zen Michalski replaced him, then was hurt in the next game against Nebraska. The narrative had taken a dark plot twist.
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But Donovan Jackson, one of the best left guards in the country, took one for the team. He moved to left tackle the next game. He didn’t navigate the sudden learning curve like a sports car in his first game, but he’s handled the curves in the coming weeks like a Grand Prix driver.
“It’s impressed me a lot,” right tackle Josh Fryar said. “He’s a really good football player. It’s going to boost him in the NFL when he gets there. And it’s crazy to see how valuable he is to this team.”
Kelly doesn’t take Jackson’s quick acclimation to the position for granted.
Emeka Egbuka watches as lineman Donovan Jackson gives a teammate a lift.
“Donny has really been an unsung hero,” Kelly said. “Switching from guard to tackle is not as easy as I think maybe some people think it is. It’s a totally different game. A lot of times you’re out there on an island.”
But before everything gets better, it has a way of getting worse.
On November 19, dark metaphoric clouds settled over the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Inside, the feeling was darker.
McLaughlin fell to the practice field in pain with a torn Achilles tendon. Out for the season. That much was immediately known. But what would the loss of McLaughlin mean for Ohio State?
Would his absence, coupled with Simmons’ sabbatical, be too much for the offense to overcome? Would the upheaval be the ready excuse – accepted by fans or not – for why the season would now likely end long before January 20?
“It was a dark point in this season for us as a line,” Fryar said. “But this is the closest line we’ve had by far because of the adversity that we’ve overcome to get to this point.”
To block out the adversity, lineup changes had to be made and had to work. Sophomore Carson Hinzman took over at left guard when Jackson moved to tackle. Day said his experience of starting every game at center last year was the primary reason. Now with McLaughlin out, Hinzman had his center job back.
“I had confidence in Carson right away,” Fryar said.
The next decision was what to do at the guard positions. Tegra Tshabola and Austin Siereveld shared time at right guard after Hinzman returned to the lineup. But sophomore Luke Montgomery, the top lineman in the Buckeyes’ 2023 recruiting class, was coming. The three have shared those two positions in the playoffs, and Montgomery started last week against Texas.
“I had confidence in Carson (Hinzman, above) right away.” – Offensive lineman, Josh Fryar
“They’ve done an unbelievable job,” Fryar said. “It just shows the selflessness of all three of those guys because Tegra was starting for the season, Austin was left guard, and then Luke jumps in there. But those guys haven’t complained one bit.”
Frye is the coach who has made the makeshift lineup work. He has been criticized for the past couple years when the running game has stalled. But he has fans inside the team.
“Justin deserves a ton of credit for how he worked with all those guys,” Kelly said. “They got a really good understanding of what we’re trying to get accomplished. The fact that we could weather that speaks to the cohesiveness of the entire group.”
Fryar loves his position coach and credits him with having the unit ready to execute what is needed on every play.
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“He busts his ass for us even though people give him hate all the time,” Fryar said. “I don’t understand why. He’s a he’s a great human being. He just wants the best for us, and I think that’s what you see in him every single day.”
From the beginning, Day, Kelly and every other Ohio State coach talked about the importance of depth this season. They expected to play at least 16 games, and Monday night is No. 16 for the 13-2 Buckeyes.
“It speaks to the depth of this team,” Kelly said. “We knew it was going to be tested when you play this many games.”
The players, especially the ones like Fryar who have played every game and almost every snap, feel the grind of 16 games and the challenge of blocking some of the nation’s best defensive fronts the second half of the season and in the playoffs.
“We hit on a daily basis,” Fryar said. “So you could have knee pain, ankle pain, you could have headaches, you have shoulder pains, you have hands, wrists, thumb, anything. But I think it just shows that we’re willing to do whatever to play.”
Now the Buckeyes must play a Notre Dame front that has a reputation of being as tough as they come. That’s why Fryar said the Buckeyes have done everything possible to be the most prepared team.
“With this front Notre Dame we just watch them and they just play really hard,” Fryar said. “It’s going to be a good challenge for us because I think they’re the toughest team in college football.”
But the Ohio State offensive line has proven to be a tough and resilient group. Lots of things drive them to perform well. But there’s one thing left at the end of a long season that drives them the most.
“Win a national championship,” Fryar said. “That’s what’s driving me more than ever because it’s a memory that’ll last a lifetime if you go and do it.”
That would be a narrative Kelly will be happy to talk about.
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