Buckeyes offensive tackle Zen Michalski will enter transfer portal
COLUMBUS — Ohio State offensive tackle Zen Michalski will enter the transfer portal, he tells On3’s Hayes Fawcett.
Michalski will have one year of eligibility remaining wherever he chooses to go.
The 6’6 315 offensive tackle appeared in 19 games for the Buckeyes, starting at left tackle in the narrow win over Nebraska.
Michalski was a four-star recruit in the 2021 recruiting class. He was the No. 229 overall player, the No. 22 offensive tackle and No. 3 player in the state of Indiana for his class.
Michalski entered the Oregon game as the left tackle for the second half when starting left tackle Josh Simmons tore his ACL. Michalski played well in that game and earned a start against Nebraska two weeks later.
“We’ve got an opportunity for another guy to step up,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said ahead of that Nebraska game. “Zen will be in there and have a good week of practice this week. I thought he stepped up and did a nice job in the Oregon game. But he’s a veteran guy who’s played a lot of football here in the program, not as much in games, but goes against really good players every day in practice.
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“So I think he was able to go into that game in a big environment and build confidence coming out.”
But Michalski struggled mightily against Nebraska and was injured at the end of that game. He hasn’t played for Ohio State since then, rehabbing his lower body that was injured.
Now he’s entering the transfer portal a day before the Buckeyes will play Tennessee in the College Football Playoff first round. And he’ll have one year of eligibility remaining after his career at Ohio State.
More info about Zen Michalski
Heading into his third year at Ohio State, Michalski moved from the left to right side competed for the starting right tackle job. He collected a good amount of first-team reps in the process. But after spring ball, OL coach Justin Frye and the Buckeyes brought in Josh Simmons, who soon became the go-to guy at left tackle. That swung Josh Fryar to right tackle, where he had a leg up on both Tegra Tshabola and Michalski. When all was said and done last season, Michalski had a mere 21 offensive snaps to his name, per PFF.
