Offensive line is notoriously one of the most difficult areas on the football field to evaluate when players jump from high school to college. It’s sometimes hard to tell which players will take coaching well and be able to add size without sacrificing quickness.
There are a lot of “misses” and if you have an even slightly shaky line, it can derail your entire offense.
That’s why top programs tend to sign at least three to five linemen every year. That way, even if you miss on a couple guys, you have enough to field a good, deep line every season.
Ohio State signed three offensive linemen in their 2018 class, Nicholas Petit-Frere, Max Wray, and Matthew Jones.
The 2019 class currently has two players signed, Harry Miller and Ryan Jacoby.
All five of those guys were ranked as four-star prospects or better, among the top players in the nation. But the Buckeyes know they need to add more big bodies this year to avoid a major issue down the road.
Buckeye fans may remember the latter stages of the Jim Tressel era, when Jim Bollman’s offensive line depth charts seemingly featured about seven names. Starters at one position also served as the top backup at other spots. That’s no way to run a national championship-caliber program.
So how can Ryan Day avoid the same issue?
Step One: Sign Doug Nester
The first player to commit to OSU’s 2019 class (he pledged to the Buckeyes back in August 2017), Nester is now the only one of those commits who still hasn’t signed.
He began to waver on his pledge after Urban Meyer announced his retirement, pushing back his decision from December to February to give himself more time to think things over.
Nester has visited Virginia Tech and Penn State this fall, and is also thinking about Georgia.
He’s a four-star prospect ranked as one of the top-100 in the country regardless of position.
Landing his signature on a Letter of Intent would immediately turn the Buckeyes’ offensive line depth chart from “near-crisis” to “somewhat concerning.”
They will still need to sign a big line class in 2020, possibly five or six players.
Step Two: Sign at least one more lineman in February
This is tricky, because while the Buckeyes definitely need more bodies, they don’t want to spend one or more of their 85 scholarships on a guy they know won’t ever see the field in anything short of an emergency.
They have had a number of offensive line prospects in recent years who left because they weren’t going to have a chance to start for the Buckeyes. Ultimately, that doesn’t help you, either.
Trying to find and establish a relationship with a top-level prospect at this time of the cycle is very difficult. It’s the recruiting version of the old business adage about how it’s easier to keep a customer than to find a new one. That’s why signing Nester is at the top of this list.
So who is still out there that the Buckeyes could add?
Jonathan Allen is a 3-star tackle from Dayton’s Dunbar High School. He’s 6-foot-6 and 315 lbs, but is extremely raw. He was a basketball star, but only started playing football as a junior, and then missed a big chunk of his senior season with an injury.
Allen is basically a lottery ticket. There’s a chance that with his size and athleticism he could develop into a standout player at the college level. But there’s also a chance he doesn’t pan out, too.
Right now, he’s looking at Cincinnati and Indiana. He has an offer from Ohio State, but seemingly hasn’t been a top priority for the Buckeyes. That could change.
The Buckeyes went hard after 5-star OT Darnell Wright from West Virginia, but he has seemingly trended toward Tennessee or perhaps Alabama in recent months. If OSU could somehow get back into the mix, that would be a huge win. But it doesn’t seem likely.
Ohio State also has an offer out to tackle Dawand Jones from Indianapolis. He’s a 3-star prospect with a massive 6-foot-8, 360 lb frame.
Jones took an unofficial visit to OSU back in November. Like Allen, he would likely be a developmental player who might take a couple years before he’s ready to see the field.
Step Three: Explore the transfer and grad transfer markets
A lot of the Buckeyes’ possible targets in this area aren’t known yet, and adding a one-year or two-year player doesn’t really solve the longer-term issues, but it’s certainly worth exploring.
Players like UCLA’s Justin Murphy and Alabama’s Richie Petitbon are already out there as potential grad transfers.
The best-case scenario here would be to land someone like Calvin Anderson, who was a grad transfer from Rice to Texas last year. He started at tackle for the Longhorns this season, earning honorable mention all-conference honors.
That type of player isn’t out there yet, but that could change in January.