Ohio State Has Four Tackles Battling For Starting Job

Tackles Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones were drafted to the NFL, leaving holes at those positions that have been near the top of the Ohio State Buckeyes priority list.

It's never easy when two of the best tackles in the country a season ago depart for the NFL.

With Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones now in the league, head coach Ryan Day and offensive line coach Justin Frye are having to do some sifting and sorting in figuring out which pieces will fill the void those two left. However, it seems the battle has been narrowed down to four players, but Ohio State's staff is unsure who will play on the right and left sides of the offensive side.

"We've been moving some guys around to figure out what the right mixture and combination's going to be," Day said. "When you look at Josh Fryar, when you look at Tegra (Tshabola), when you look at Jimmy Simmons, and you look at Luke Montgomery, all four of those guys are competing at a high level. Zen (Michalski)'s also in there, George (Fitzpatrick) is getting better, but those four guys are competing."

The No. 1 priority is finding out the best five linemen of the bunch then situate them into their specific positions, Day said.

The left and right guard positions are locked down by Donovan Jackson and Matt Jones, respectively, leaving the center position up for grabs.

The competition has "heated up" between centers Carson Hinzman and Victor Cutler Jr. after Jakob James missed the entire spring with an injury, Day said.

Day said when players have the athleticism and ability to play multiple positions on the offensive line, it increases their value. He said Fryar's been able to play both left and right tackle.

"For the most part, all four of these guys are pretty athletic," Day said. "They're not really too right-handed or left-handed so they can handle it a little bit better."

Day said he wants the competition to "get settled" hopefully by the end of this week to allow players to adjust to the position they'll be playing.

"If we don't make those decisions now, it's going to be harder to make them in two weeks down the road," Day said. "Those are the hard decisions that we've been talking through and when we're evaluating literally as we speak."

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