LOS ANGELES — Austin Siereveld knew how lucky he was to have his own room during Ohio State’s preseason camp.
It wasn’t just for privacy reasons. The redshirt freshman stayed away from a stomach bug that plagued the rest of the position group just weeks before the season, which proved to be an ominous sign of things to come for perhaps the most hard-luck unit in the College Football Playoff.
Midway through camp, Ohio State moved the offensive linemen into their own rooms to avoid a full spread, but the damage was done. Siereveld, a guard who has appeared in 13 games and started five, practiced at tackle just so Ohio State had enough players to get drills in.
“That was a challenging time,” senior lineman Donovan Jackson said. “We had a lot of guys out. It was the starting stages of guys moving to other positions.”
Some players like Luke Montgomery were out for a week. Others missed more time, including Jackson, a preseason All-American who had a separate injury that cost him two games.
It was a bad start for the biggest question mark on arguably the most talented team in the country, one with well-publicized national championship expectations.
“That feels like seven years ago,” offensive line coach Justin Frye joked on Monday.
Since then, Ohio State’s offensive line has lost potential first-round pick tackle Josh Simmons and Rimington Trophy-winning center Seth McLaughlin for the season to injuries and backup left tackle Zen Michalski for six games.
Ohio State moved Jackson to left tackle and worked through five different starting lineups and even more in-game rotations. In the first round of the Playoff against Tennessee’s talented defense, Ohio State used its ninth offensive lineman.
Ohio State worked week to week to figure out who could play, where they were going to play and what the game plan would be with another new lineup.
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There were good moments, like at Penn State when it ran 11 times for 58 yards on the final drive to cement the win, or a dominant performance against Tennessee in the first round of the Playoff, when quarterback Will Howard wasn’t sacked once and picked apart the Vols’ defense.
But there have also been rough times, most notably the devastating upset loss to rival Michigan when Ohio State ran for 77 yards and scored just 10 points.
Still, Ohio State is playing in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday in a rematch against Oregon. Despite losing to the undefeated Ducks in October, the Buckeyes are slight favorites to win and advance to a semifinal at the Cotton Bowl.
“Nobody cares if we are beat up,” Jackson said. “The defense isn’t going to slow down and our fan base isn’t going to care. We know we have to execute with what we got, and what we got is enough. We have to just go get it done. We have to keep good things going.”
After an uneven first season at Ohio State as a San Diego State transfer, Simmons looked more athletic, understood the scheme better and dominated in practices in the spring and summer. Through five games, heading into October’s top-five matchup at Oregon, Simmons had emerged as a star at left tackle.
“Let’s be honest: He was going to be an All-American,” Jackson said. “He was one of the best pass-blocking tackles in college football.”
And then Simmons left the loss to Oregon with a season-ending knee injury. It was a heartbreaking early finish to a season that could’ve made him one of the first offensive tackles taken in the NFL Draft.
Ohio State didn’t have time to think about an extensive solution, so it put in Michalski, who was serviceable enough against the Ducks to earn a start against Nebraska.
Michalski struggled in a close 21-17 win against the Huskers. Then he got injured. With one week until Ohio State had to go to Penn State and deal with All-American edge rusher Abdul Carter, the Buckeyes needed a solution.
Because of some misses on the recruiting trail, there were no more capable tackles on the roster. So Frye and Jackson had a conversation about switching positions. Jackson, considered one of the best offensive guards in the country and a potential first-round draft pick, had a lot to consider.
“I wrestled with it, because I built this body of work at guard, everybody sees me as a guard, why would I move out?” Jackson said. “I thought about it, but I was like, ‘I like winning more than I like anything.’”
Donovan Jackson has made 37 career starts at Ohio State. (Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
Ohio State has a slogan it uses in meetings: “power of the unit,” which means that a full-team effort is what leads to success, not an individual player. Jackson, the leader of the offensive line, was preaching that to his teammates well before the preseason illnesses and injuries hit.
His decision to move made a big impact on the team.
“All Donnie wants to do is win,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. “That set a great message for the team.”
Added Frye: “You go into the dictionary and look up the word teammate, you’ll see his picture because he’s shown it with his actions.”
Jackson’s first game was a mixed bag. Playing largely against Carter, who leads the Big Ten with 11 sacks, he finished with five pressures and two sacks allowed, per PFF. But Ohio State won and Jackson began learning from his mistakes.
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Ohio State wasn’t going to reach its goals if Jackson was just an OK tackle; he had to be a good one. He’s turned into that for the Buckeyes. In the five games since Penn State, Jackson hasn’t given up a sack and gave up just one pressure against Tennessee.
His growth can be attributed to his work ethic, but also the Ohio State defensive linemen working with him. It became common for Jackson to pull aside All-Big Ten defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer or their backups after practice to run a few more reps. They talked through what works against other tackles and Jackson started to use their advice in games.
“I wanted to be able to see the nuances of edge rushing,” Jackson said. “It was trying to see when their shoulders face me, if they’re going outside or going to swipe inside. Trying to see everything so when I see it in a game, I can do it at a high level.”
Just as Jackson and the offensive line began hitting their groove, with former center Carson Hinzman at left guard, the Buckeyes were hit with another injury.
McLaughlin tore his Achilles in practice. The injury left the team in shock. Another top-five matchup, this time against Indiana, was three days away. Ohio State couldn’t dwell on the loss.
“Everybody stopped breathing, that’s what it felt like,” Montgomery said. “It was so odd. … But even then it was like, ‘OK it’s time to put your big boy pants on and go play ball.’”
A year ago, the talk about McLaughlin was his snap issues at Alabama. When he transferred to Ohio State, he felt refreshed. He loved playing for Frye, built strong bonds with his new teammates and turned into the best center in the country.
Losing him was a severe blow that could have been a breaking point.
“In the moment, it was heartbreaking,” Frye said. “It’s not the picture or story he wanted to write.”
McLaughlin soon flipped his mental switch to being “Coach Seth,” as many on the team call him now. Unless he’s at rehab, the graduate transfer doesn’t miss practices, meetings or film sessions. He’s still involved in game plans and coaching younger players.
“Coming out of that, he’s going to be a better and tougher guy because of the hand he was dealt,” Frye said.
The two games after McLaughlin’s injury weren’t great for the offense. According to TruMedia, Ohio State averaged under a yard before contact per rush against Indiana and Michigan. In those games, Ohio State moved Hinzman back to center and Siereveld started at left guard.
The 13-10 loss to Michigan prompted discussions about scheme adjustments and rotation changes to make things easier against Tennessee in the Playoff.
In came Montgomery, a redshirt freshman. The Findlay, Ohio, native played 29 snaps against the Vols, with Ohio State rotating him in at guard with Siereveld and right guard Tegra Tshabola. The result was a dominant win in which the Buckeyes averaged 4.7 yards per carry, the most Tennessee has given up this season.
Frye has been coaching offensive lines since 2011 and has never had a season with so many injuries.
“You show me, with nine guys, who can go out there and do that?” Frye said. “You can’t do that in pro football; you have to go get another one on the roster. For our guys, the resiliency, the job they do every week and living the next-man-up mentality. That’s a tribute to how they work.”
Kelly, who has been coaching football for more than 30 years, has seen some similar situations. The difference between this season and the others is that Ohio State is still winning despite the injuries.
“It usually doesn’t end well,” Kelly said.
The coaches give credit to the players, but this year has also tested the experience of Ohio State’s staff.
Ohio State lives in a week-by-week world, planning for each team from scratch the day after its last game. That hasn’t changed. But as the rotation changes, the scheme has evolved, too.
Certain players have strengths and weaknesses, which meant Frye, Kelly and head coach Ryan Day had to have long talks about what was best for the offense.
“Every week you go back to game plans and think, what do they do well? What do we do well? What are our matchups and how do we create numbers and leverage?” Frye said. “Then you look at the five or six guys you have and say, ‘If they can’t execute something or it’s not a great matchup then you don’t run it.’”
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Ohio State was harshly criticized for repeatedly running into the teeth of Michigan’s talented defensive line. It didn’t make that mistake twice. Against Tennessee, Ohio State used more gap run schemes and motions in the backfield to get the Vols looking different ways.
There are many positives of a gap scheme, including allowing offensive linemen to attack defenders who are in conflict due to the misdirection going on in the backfield.
They had success with that change. Though many of the issues the line has had can be traced back to some recruiting misses, the players don’t believe they’d be in a winning position without Frye.
“I don’t think a lot of coaches can do what he’s done at a very high level,” Jackson said. “He’s given us the tools to succeed. He’s done an amazing job with what he’s been doing.”
Ohio State might boast the most talented team in the country, one built on a $20 million NIL budget, but things haven’t come easy. That’s especially true for the offensive line.
But when adversity has hit, Ohio State has responded. Despite the criticism, the Buckeyes offensive line ranks 28th in pressure rate, 13th in sack rate and 19th in yards before contact, per TruMedia.
Now, three wins away from a national championship, it’ll need to respond again against an Oregon defensive line boasting three All-Big Ten players.
“We just control what we can control at the end of the day,” Montgomery said. “When the opportunity presents itself, you have to not blink and just roll.
“Here we are in the Rose Bowl. It’s what you dream about.”
(Top photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
