Ryan Day opens up on Josh Simmons' chances to be starting left tackle

At the end of April, Josh Simmons committed to transfer from San Diego State to Ohio State. Now, he’s competing to be the starting left tackle on head coach Ryan Day‘s offensive line.

That’s not a job that’s going to be given to Simmons, though, and Day broke down his chances to be that starting left tackle. This comes as Simmons has worked at that position in practice.

“I think he’s had some really good practices and he’s shown that he can be the starting left tackle,” Ryan Day said. “He has not won that job, yet.”

At the same time that Ryan Day isn’t ready to name a starting left tackle, he does think that Josh Simmons is capable of winning that job, even implying that he’s the front-runner to win that starting job.

“But he has shown traits that make us believe that he can be that guy.”

A native of La Mesa, California, Josh Simmons was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. Interestingly, coming out of high school he was seen as an interior offensive lineman. He started his career at San Diego State. He spent two seasons there, including a redshirt year in 2021. In 2022, he became the Aztecs starting right tackle.

A big reason why Simmons landed at Ohio State was his prior relationship with offensive line coach Justin Frye.

“I had hands on, I had a prior relationship,” Frye said in May. “I had been out there for so many years and being around the right people to ask the right questions. And then you could press play for 13 games and watch him do it.”

Ohio State encouraged by first impressions of Josh Simmons

Josh Simmons is taking on a new challenge by transferring to the Big Ten. He hasn’t seen the type of talent on the defensive line in the Mountain West that he’s going to consistently see this season. On top of that, he went to Ohio State, where there is an incredibly high standard.

Still, early in his time with the Buckeyes, Ryan Day has been impressed with Josh Simmons.

“[Simmons is] just getting here,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days. “So we need to see what we got on the field. We don’t know. We see a lot of talent. But Ohio State’s different. This is a different offense, everything about it is different. So we need to see that, although we’re encouraged by what we see.”