Ohio State Buckeyes Coach Ryan Day Concerned With Offensive Line Depth?
After six weeks of college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes are sitting pretty. They have as good a chance of any team to make the college playoff and should be favored in the majority of their remaining games.
The Buckeyes preparing to face off against Purdue this weekend, where they currently sit as 20.5-point favorites, before their matchup with No. 6 Penn State on Oct. 21.
That said, the Buckeyes do have one glaring issue that seems to need addressing - the second-string offensive line.
At least according to head coach Ryan Day, who voiced his concern with the second team line at his press conference on Tuesday.
"I don't see any of those guys right now, pushing," Day said. "I'd like to see that. But I don't see them pushing on the door enough to say someone deserves 20, or 30 snaps in a game just yet. But there's still a lot of football left to play and feel free to make a push. We want that in practice."
So far, Ohio State has allowed seven sacks, which ranks No. 26 FBS. However, should they lose one of their starters for any length of time, things could start to become a bit dicey up front.
That is not to say there is not solid talent on the second team. After all, multiple players on the second-team line (Tegra Tshabola, Enokk Vimahi, and Luke Montgomery) were four-star recruits.
And Day believes those offensive linemen are working to improve as best they can.
"I don't think they're not playing hard," Day said. "I don't see that part of it. I think they're working to play hard, they're working to play physical and there are certain areas like hand placement, pad level, identification of things that we can all improve on."
The second group will have every chance to make that push as the season progresses.
The Buckeyes will just have to hope some progress is made there sooner rather than later, as they prepare to face a Purdue team that has 18 sacks on the year and a Penn State team that ranks in the top 10 in the country with 20 sacks of their own.
Kickoff against Purdue is set for 12 p.m. ET.