Ohio State football’s biggest offseason weakness trending upward ahead of Michigan challenge

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kyle McCord held one of the closest vantage points from which to assess Ohio State football’s offensive line progress.

After last week’s win over Minnesota, McCord described his own season-long progress in terms of how much he learned to trust his teammates. He did not mention the offensive line specifically. That was not a group, though, that inspired great confidence when it took uncertain steps into a shaky performance to start the season.

McCord sees a unit playing better in recent weeks in part because that is what those five players have become — a single unit.

“Early on, especially in fall camp, we were switching guys in and out; guys were competing for jobs,” McCord said. “And then once everything kind of settled into place, I think they did a good job of meshing together.

“Especially early on in the season, I don’t think everybody was always on the same page. That’s to be expected, but especially this last stretch, I think they’ve done a good job of communicating well, playing together, preparing during the week. And I think as a result, their play’s risen.”

The project that began so rough last spring and remained so unsettled weeks into the regular season reaches a crucial, season-defining point. Michigan owns the best defense in the country by some metrics. That starts up front with a talented rotations both on the edge and at defensive tackle.

This offensive line group can at least say it comes into this game with something it had so rarely found over the previous 11 months: Momentum.

“We’re by no means a finished product, but we’re way better than we were,” offensive line coach Justin Frye said on the Ryan Day Radio Show on Wednesday. “The good news is now you get into November and we get rolling and you get a chance to be better every week.”

No one better exemplifies the progress made than left tackle Josh Simmons. The San Diego State transfer flipped sides of the line to fill a desperate need at a crucial position. While an adjustment period came as no surprise, at the start of the season it certainly seemed unlikely he would post the highest grade of anyone on the offense on any given week.

That’s exactly what he did at Minnesota, in Pro Football Focus’ estimation. Importantly, he has also avoided penalties each of the past two weeks. The environment inside Michigan Stadium on Saturday should be conducive to forcing those sorts of mistakes. Simmons’ discipline has improved as the season wore on.

At the other tackle, Josh Fryar has arguably been the unit’s most consistent member. The biggest challenge awaits on the interior. McCord said veteran starting guards Donovan Jackson and Matt Jones have been “lifting up” redshirt freshman center Carson Hinzman. Mason Graham, Cam Goode, Kris Jenkins and Kenneth Grant should be the toughest interior rotation this unit has faced since Mike Hall Jr., Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton were pushing them around in the spring.

TreVeyon Henderson’s health remains the top factor in the running back’s late-season surge. Yet his return happened to coincide with the most consistent stretch of blocking the offensive line put together. Similarly, it is also no coincidence that OSU’s percentage of touchdowns scored on red zone chances has improved since it was such a shortcoming up through the middle of the season.

Back in that rough spring, there was no guarantee this offensive line group would have reached The Game on an upward trajectory. The cohesion it worked so hard to create has never been more essential than it will be Saturday.