Buckeyes have pair of capable guards ready to step in, be difference-makers
ATLANTA – Ohio State right guard Matthew Jones has pronounced himself fit and raring to go Saturday night when the Buckeyes take on No. 1 Georgia in a College Football Playoff semifinal in Mercedes Benz Stadium.
“I feel like it’s a blessed opportunity. Praise God,” Jones said Thursday during team day at the College Football Hall of Fame. “The talent and the ability to be where I’m at now — not everybody has a chance that I have now. Just gotta take advantage of it.”
Timing is everything at this moment for the 6-foot-4, 315-pound fifth-year man who already has earned a degree from Ohio State. It has been a full month since the Michigan game, which he had to miss after suffering a major tweak to his right ankle the week before at Maryland, a joint that had been sprained earlier in the year.
“It’s been a lingering issue in the season. It was lingering around honestly,” Jones said. “Just trying to do what I gotta do to battle through it. I feel great.”
Just in case his ankle knocks him down again, though, Enokk Vimahi and Josh Fryar are poised to step into the breach, just like they did for Ohio State at Maryland and against Michigan. Vimahi started against the Wolverines, but Fryar saw the bulk of the time.
“I’m just getting prepared, getting ready for this weekend,” Vimahi said Thursday. “Taking our shot – that’s all we need.”
Along with taking to heart everything line coach Justin Frye has uttered, Vimahi said he’s been leaning on advice from his road game roommate, left guard Donovan Jackson, and the rest of the No. 1 line, the big point about being ready to go from the start if the situation calls for it, not take a period to feel out the Bulldogs.
“To hear that advice from Donnie, from Luke (Wypler, center), Paris (Johnson Jr.), Dawand (Jones, right tackle), I’m grateful, and plan to use that in my future,” Vimahi said. “Stay within what you believe is your best strength, then use the technique coach Frye has been teaching us.”
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Fryar said “I think everybody has to be nervous” headed into a game of this magnitude, “but once you get out there and your number is called, you get that first play in and usually your nerves go away.
“But our preparation has been very good and thorough the past month.”
Anyone who has studied this matchup knows that the Ohio State guards and center will be in for a challenge, too, since the vaunted Georgia defensive front is led by what most consider to be the dominant defensive tackle in the game this season in Jalen Carter.
No matter what, mention the Georgia front and the first word that comes to mind is “Tough,” Vimahi said. “This game will be won on toughness.
“That sounds kind of cheesy, but in matchups like this that’s usually where the game lies.”
Jones knows that also, which is why his focus has been on being able to answer the bell Saturday night for Ohio State.
“I can’t say it’s a challenge really. It’s just preparation,” Jones said. “Everything I’ve done for a couple of weeks, I’ve practiced full speed, and I feel great.”
