Ohio State’s Josh Fryar isn’t yet a lock to start the season at left tackle.
AP photo
COLUMBUS — When Josh Simmons popped up in the transfer portal, he reappeared on the radar for Ohio State football coach Justin Frye.
Simmons spent two seasons at San Diego State — one as a redshirt, one as the starting right tackle — before attempting to level up. Frye did not need to be convinced. He had offered Simmons a scholarship while coaching the offensive line at UCLA.
“He’s got a great frame,” Frye said. “He’s got good length. He’s got twitch. He’s got burst. He’s got a lot of tools that you look to.
“I offered him out of high school at my last place because I felt like he had a chance to be really good player. So this is not something that just popped on the scene. He’s been a player.”
In this case, a prior relationship may only have been coincidental in OSU’s pursuit — and eventual signing — of a player in the portal. Frye came out of the spring with lingering questions on an offensive line replacing three starters who recently wrapped up their NFL rookie minicamps.
Frye admitted this week he does not yet have conclusive answers at some of those positions. He also sounded like a guy increasingly optimistic about the collection of possible solutions.
• Asked point-blank if he was confident in Josh Fryar at left tackle, Frye quickly responded: “Very.” Yet he also mused about whether Fryar will stay there or possibly move back to right tackle — assuming Simmons or someone else makes a better claim to left tackle.
• Simmons arrived as the most experienced tackle on the roster with 13 career starts. (Fryar is second with one.) Yet Frye also said Tegra Tshabola, who competed with Zen Michalski at right tackle in the spring, has not fallen out of contention.
“He’s put himself in position to be the guy right now, too,” Frye said.
• Prior to Frye’s arrival, in 2021, OSU experienced an offensive line shakeup in preseason camp. Dawand Jones’ emergence caused a chain reaction that made three-year starting left tackle Thayer Munford a guard. Then when Harry Miller could not start the season, Luke Wypler became the starting center and never relinquished the job.
Could a similarly drastic overhaul unfold later this summer? Probably not, but Frye believes in the “best five” concept. As such, a certain amount of flexibility could be required. That came up during a discussion of what scenario might push left guard Donovan Jackson to tackle.
“If the right guard goes down and the backup right guard is not the sixth-best guy and your backup right tackle is, then you’ve gotta find a way to get your fifth-best guy on the field,” Frye said.
Along those same lines, Frye came out of the spring excited about the progress of Enokk Vimahi. A fifth-year backup, Vimahi carries positional versatility but has no obvious path to a starting role. Yet Frye said Vimahi played with enough power and consistency in the spring that he’s “gotta be on the field somewhere, somehow.”
The process to find the best combination of five players comes with both high stakes and a definite deadline. Friday marks the three month point from the season opener against Indiana. Frye, though, pushed away any talk of panic or concern.
“On paper, you look — whether it be here or anywhere — and say we’re replacing three starters, replacing three draft picks,” Frye said. “It’s not just going to be seamless Day 1 of spring.
“But then now you say you’re not on paper. You’re at Ohio State. So what do you have? Well, they’ve recruited really good players here. So now it’s our job and my job as a coach to develop those guys so that there the next man up.”
