After a healthy start through their first five games of the season, the Buckeyes were dealt a tough blow to their offensive line when starting left tackle Josh Simmons had to be carted off the field with a lower-body injury in their 32-31 loss to Oregon. In the game, Simmons was replaced by redshirt junior offensive lineman Zen Michalski.
With the change in personnel, the Buckeyes still had success moving the ball, and quarterback Will Howard was sacked only once. However, the Buckeyes were a little less effective running the football than they had been in previous games, as the team only went for 141 rushing yards on 4.3 yards per carry.
After the game, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day did not have a very positive update on Simmons’ outlook as he indicated the former San Diego State transfer would be unlikely to appear in another game this season.
“It doesn’t look great in terms of him being able to come back this season,” Day said. “So that’s a big hit for us.”
In an appearance on his weekly radio show on 97.1 The Fan on Thursday, Day said the Buckeyes plan is to stick with Michalski in place of Simmons but didn’t rule out some of the other options available, like moving one of the team’s starting guards Donovan Jackson and Tegra Tshabola to tackle or inserting backup offensive linemen like Austin Siereveld or Luke Montgomery into the lineup.
“We’re going to go with Zen right now, but we’ll have some backup plans,” Day said. “We always have to have contingency plans in place. But the good news is you got Austin (Siereveld) in there and you got Tegra (Tshabola), who’s played some tackle before, you can move (Donovan Jackson) out as well, and then you have Luke (Montgomery) ready to roll in at guard.”
