The Recap: Everything we learned from Lettermen Row Offensive Line Week

SpencerHolbrook

On3 image — Justin Frye is hard at work on the recruiting trail for 2024 prospects. (Matt Parker/Lettermen Row)

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing with our fifth and final offensive positional week with a retooled unit: the Buckeyes offensive line.

COLUMBUS — Lettermen Row is putting the finishing touches on Offensive Line Week, a week-long journey to break down in deep detail everything about the Buckeyes room that is loaded with potential. We’re wrapping it all up with a one-stop shop for everything we learned while breaking it all down before we move onto Defensive Line Week.

Here’s a sneak-peek at one of the positions Lettermen Row projected a depth chart for. Want more of that? Not a member? SUBSCRIBE TO LETTERMEN ROW

Projected right tackle depth chart

Starter: Josh Simmons

This is by far the toughest battle to prognosticate. Ohio State saw plenty from both Zen Michalski and Tegra Tshabola in the spring, giving them each a chance to shine with the first-team offensive line. Neither did enough to lock down the starting job at right tackle, so the Buckeyes dipped into the transfer portal and scooped up former San Diego State starting right tackle Josh Simmons. After starting every game for the Aztecs last season, Simmons has immediately fit in with the Ohio State line and will be the leading candidate to take over as the right tackle. It’s a wide-open three-man race to become the starter on the edge. No, we haven’t seen Simmons line up for Ohio State just yet, but his film from last fall gives us a good idea that he’ll be tough to surpass as the first-team right tackle.

Backups: Tegra Tshabola, Zen Michalski

Both Tegra Tshabola and Zen Michalski had chances to prove themselves as capable starting right tackles in spring ball, and they each did plenty of good things in those practices for the Buckeyes. They each are still entrenched in the battle to become the starting right tackle, and very few would be surprised if either end up becoming the starter over Simmons. That’s what makes this battle so intriguing heading into the final two months of the offseason. Tshabola and Michalski still have multiple years of eligibility for the Buckeyes to crack the lineup — if they don’t this fall. But so does Simmons.

Predictions for Buckeyes OL unit

The Buckeyes lost their starting tackles, one of which was a top-10 NFL Draft pick. They lost their two-year starter at center. They’re attempting to replace three starters in a unit that underachieved on the recruiting trail during a rough three-year stretch.

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But this is Ohio State. A step back is not acceptable. And it’s not expected inside the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

So while plenty of folks are expecting Ohio State to potentially struggle in the trenches this fall, the Buckeyes are at work internally to make sure it simply doesn’t happen.

Lettermen Row wrapped up off its fifth position week of the summer with three predictions for the most intriguing position on the Ohio State roster — the offensive line room that has a chance to prove plenty of folks wrong.

READ: Making three predictions for Buckeyes offensive line