During a press conference on Tuesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, head coach Ryan Day spent a portion of his time made available to the media praising redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Austin Siereveld. Although he doesn’t know what position the third-year will play, Day said Siereveld will be a starter.
“I thought Austin did a nice job moving around,” Day said. “I think he really took a big step for us. I don’t think we’re in a position to really get into who is starting and who isn’t, and at what positions. Austin Siereveld is going to be a starter for us, he’s an excellent player who really had a good spring for us.”
Day’s excitement about Siereveld’s growth does not come out of nowhere. The former four-star was one of three players to win the Iron Buckeye award in the winter and followed that up by impressing coaches while primarily lining up at right tackle in the spring. Still, before the spring started, Siereveld, who played in all 16 games for the Buckeyes last year as mainly a backup player, was not viewed as a lock to start in 2025-26.
At the right tackle position, former Minnesota offensive tackle Phillip Daniels was viewed by some as the favorite to start, after he started the final four games for the Golden Gophers in 2024. Instead, in the portions of spring practice made available to the media, he spent time with the second-team offensive line. Daniels may not have been out with the first-team offensive line as much as some expected in the spring, but Day still felt he made improvements.
“Phillip Daniels got better from practice one all the way until the end,” Day said. “That’s an example of somebody who is playing against Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Caden Curry and C.J. Hicks every day in practice, and continually got better, especially in his pass protection, so (it’s a) big summer for him as well.”
Siereveld likely having a starting position locked up, does not necessarily force Daniels out of the starting lineup. It could be that Daniels impresses the coaching staff enough so that Siereveld would start somewhere at guard, leaving interior offensive linemen like Luke Montgomery or Tegra Tshabola potentially without a spot with the ones.
Although he pointed out they haven’t had to go against the type of competition they did last year, facing future NFL draft picks like Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton, Day appreciates the growth of his interior offensive line.
“I thought Tegra (Tshabola), (redshirt junior center Carson Hinzman), Luke (Montgomery), (redshirt senior offensive tackle Ethan Onianwa) got better, (redshirt sophomore) Josh Padilla got better, there’s a lot of guys there that I felt like were really improving on a day-to-day basis.”
