The Ohio State offensive line hasn’t been the Buckeyes’ strength the past several seasons, but heading into spring practice that could change.
In the past the Buckeyes have had to break in young players and try to develop consistency as they went along. This season, however, OSU looks to use the offensive line as a strength.
“It’s evident that there are seven guys who have experience,” offensive line coach Jim Bollman said. “And then you have a couple guys that we redshirted that have some potential, so we could have a chance, barring injury, to have a little bit of depth.”
Depth is something the Buckeyes would love after dealing with so many injuries and setbacks in the unit last season. Several different combinations of players were used as starters to combat injuries but it seemed at times to keep the unit from adequately blending together.
OSU will have four starters back, including several heavily experienced players inside. Center Michael Brewster and guards Justin Boren and Bryant Browning all have several years of starting experience.
While they will miss departing senior Jim Cordle, OSU will be able to play guys who have all had experience in the past. Cordle was injured for a significant period of time last season and several different players filled in for him.
Cordle’s vacated left tackle position looks to be the only spot that is open for a new starter and the Buckeyes are in no hurry to find his replacement.
“I’d say it’s wide open,” Bollman said. “I hope you guys know that we’re not afraid to play who we think is the best guy.”
On the first day of practice, junior Mike Adams took the reps with the first team and many had pegged him as the likely replacement for Cordle. Day two, however, was a different scenario as Andy Miller took over at left tackle and Adams worked some with the second team.
Aside from Adams and Miller, it looks like sophomore Marcus Hall will also get the chance to prove he is worthy of the starting spot. He gained experience as a freshman last season and played well when given a chance due to injury.
J.B. Shugarts, who started at right tackle last season, will most likely be the other guy to get reps at left tackle. It appears the coaching staff is most concerned with getting the two best tackles on the field at once and aren’t as concerned with right and left.
Bollman also talked about what he would like to see out of the four likely candidates moving forward.
“We’ll just keep rolling those guys throughout there until we feel like we’re settled, but it’s nice that we have four guys that have some experience,” he said. “We’ll see how things evolve. There are four guys that will play at left tackle before the spring is over.”
