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2026 tOSU Offense Discussion

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Jaxbuck said:
I don’t care how many decoys you put out there or how you align them.

Just remember, you have J Smith.

No one else has one of those.

Throw Him The Goddamned Ball.
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Yeah he needs an absurd amount of targets, my only concern is over thinking this. Or getting him injured when we could pull him out. He needs to have 200+ yards on Texas in the first half.
 
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That would be sweet. If RBs scenario happens, would also believe that when 2-3 DBs cover Jeremiah, then the other WRs start catching TDs. Simply because of the double-triple teams on JS. Also believe that Sayin will be turned loose in this game. Last year, he was being held back by Day, and simply tried to play without turning the ball over. It worked superbly, but this year, believe we'll see him make a Heisman statement early on.
 
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Different personnel looks​

Ryan Day said after practice Thursday that his team would "try a couple different" combinations on the offensive line.

The unit that was ushered out as the first team that day was Ian Moore at left tackle, Luke Montgomery at left guard, Carson Hinzman at center, Austin Siereveld at right guard and Philip Daniels at right tackle.

On Friday, it was Siereveld at left tackle, which is where he started in 2025, and Joshua Padilla at right guard. Moore split reps with Daniels at right tackle, while Montgomery and Hinzman remained at their spots.

For Saturday, both of these looks were on display. As Dan Hope wrote in his Friday practice observations, below are the following looks that Ohio State could roll out on the offensive line — as it stands right now, the first option looks like the favorite.

  • LT Ian Moore, LG Luke Montgomery, C Carson Hinzman, RG Austin Siereveld, RT Phillip Daniels
  • LT Austin Siereveld, LG Luke Montgomery, C Carson Hinzman, RG Joshua Padilla, RT Phillip Daniels
  • LT Austin Siereveld, LG Luke Montgomery, C Carson Hinzman, RG Joshua Padilla, RT Ian Moore
"It's gonna be really good competition. Good news is we have some different options, but we gotta find the best five," Day said.

The RB conversation​

After a freshman year where he ran for 1,090 yards, Bo Jackson returned to Columbus hoping to improve on a strong first campaign as a Buckeye.

But it hasn't been smooth sailing for the tailback early, as he spent most of the first three practice sessions working with twos. Isaiah West, whom Day said had a "tremendous offseason," has been working with the starters and taking the first reps.

“He's very explosive. He'll be in the gap, then he'll pop out, and he's there, and then he's gone. He's super twitchy, and he had a heck of an offseason.”– Payton Pierce on Isaiah West

West has looked like the top tailback through three practices, and all the feedback has been positive. It'll be interesting to see if Jackson's role takes a step back with him seeing the majority of time with the twos, but given his role last year, it'd be hard to see that happening.

Jackson does already have a rapport fielding handoffs with Sayin, so this can give West more of an opportunity to do that. I think West will certainly see an uptick in snaps after playing third fiddle to Jackson and CJ Donaldson a year ago, but he was coming off a knee injury in high school. Though he ended up surpassing James Peoples in the depth chart by the end of the year.

The pair enter their second fall camp after being banged up in the spring, but the tandem appears healthy coming off shoulder injuries.


As far as guys behind them on the depth chart, Florida transfer Ja'Kobi Jackson saw steady work across all three practices with the top unit. He started his collegiate career at Coahoma Community College and Mississippi, playing three seasons there before spending three at Florida and then transferring to Ohio State in the winter for his seventh and final year of eligibility.

He worked primarily as a pass-catching back, fielding screen passes and then hauling in receptions in the flat as a check-down option, finding holes at times.

The other player who worked with the ones only did so for one day, as freshman Legend Bey did so after missing the first two days of fall camp due to a violation of team rules. It wasn't a full day for him with the starters, as he spent time between both the ones and twos.

There were highs ands lows for Bey in his return. He was told to do push-ups by running backs coach Carlos Locklyn after missing a pass block, and later in practice had to run a lap after losing a fumble. He did show flashes, though, as it's evident he has a burst with the ball in his hands. The offense had him lined up out wide at times while also having him motion into the backfield.

“Legend did some good things today. He's obviously a dangerous player with the ball in his hands.”– Julian Sayin on Legend Bey

Regardless of what we've seen, Bo and West will likely see a split role, regardless of who is trotted out there for the first snap in Week 1. Ja'Kobi Jackson could be thrust into a pass-catching role, but if Bey catches up to the college game quickly, it'll be hard to keep his explosiveness off of the field.

 
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I’m really excited for this offense. From all accounts, the defense seemed shell shocked a bit with what the offense was doing in the scrimmage from last week.

Maybe some will be worried about the defense but it seemed to me the defense was having a really good camp so far. It’s just the offense really found their footing.

Defense probably is a bit taken aback now that the offense has all the OL and their RBs. Wasn’t a fair fight in spring ball.
 
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Aaron Taylor sends extremely encouraging message on Ohio State's OL even with LT questions​

CBS Sports' Aaron Taylor told me that Ohio State is in a good place regardless of where Ian Moore and Austin Siereveld slot in.

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Aaron Taylor believes Ohio State's OL is 'way ahead of the pack'​

"So you look at a school like Ohio State, which has a question at left tackle; that's phenomenal because Oregon has probably three question marks. They've got eight that can play, but they don't know what combination it's going to be, and that's proving to be a key differentiator for the units that emerge and move on from maybe a semifinalist to a finalist and then the eventual (Joe Moore Award) winner," Taylor said.

"Consistency is one of the six criteria, and it's proving to become more and more important because injuries are having some sort of a force multiplier effect in the era of the NIL and the portal. We can't fully put our fingers on them, but we are watching that when one player goes down, it's a 2x reduction in production for a week or two longer than it's been historically.

"So the dip is further, faster, and it takes longer to climb out of it, and I think we saw that a season ago with Ohio State, maybe even the last couple seasons, but certainly with Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, all of them. All of those units had a single player go down that, when they had to shuffle the deck, was problematic. Indiana, for a couple of games, had that situation happen last year, so, as having challenges and question marks, I think Ohio State's way ahead of the pack compared to some of the other national contenders."

Padilla, who could play all along the interior, guard Gabe VanSickle, and even true freshman tackle Sam Greer could see snaps in the rotation behind, from left to right: Moore, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman, Siereveld, and Phillip Daniels. Taylor's confidence in the entire group is notable, since chemistry up front defines any offense's ceiling.

With the margins so thin at the top of the sport, it's music to Buckeye fans' ears that a trenches expert like Taylor believes the offensive line is in such good shape relative to the other teams in the CFP mix.
 
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Yeah I have to admit I think the concerns are overblown too. We gave up 5 sacks all year until the final 2 games.

We struggled vs the movement of IU and the ran into 2 first round DEs vs Miami. Those just weren’t the best DLs we played but they were 2 of the best.

Throw in a first year OC, a true freshman RB and a QB that went unchallenged all year? It’s no surprise the offense struggled
 
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WHAT DO YA GOT?! Christian made another interesting comment on Wednesday — I told you! He’s quotable! This one was about Ohio State’s offense under new coordinator Arthur Smith.

“I think there’s just plays off plays off plays,” Christian said. “We’ll set you up one way and then come back. It looks the same, but it’s a different play.”

I attended Ohio State’s first three practices and can concur: There’s a lot of misdirection (I understand the offense has evolved from practice three to practice 13). There’s also a lot of motion. Jeremiah Smith starts as an H-back, then motions to the slot. Bo Jackson starts out wide and motions into the backfield. Nate Roberts is in a two-point stance, then steps forward and puts his hand in the dirt.

There’s enough happening to keep a defense on its heels before, during and after the snap — even for a unit led by Matt Patricia.

“I was talking to Payton (Pierce) about it. I was like, ‘Hey, man, what do you see in the middle? Is this confusing?’ He was like, ‘Man, I don’t know how defenses are gonna stop this,’” Christian said.

Christian Alliegro said something similar on Thursday.

“I don’t want to say he’s schemin’ us up in practice, but it feels like he is,” Alliegro said of Smith’s offense. “He’s got a lot of good plays under his belt. He’s super smart. And when you have a quarterback like Julian Sayin, you can really do whatever with that offense. And obviously, all the talent we have outside and inside with our running backs, receivers and O-line. It’s really good.”

I mean, sheesh.

That reminds me of how Patricia operated last season. Even in the season opener against Texas, Patricia made it look like the Buckeyes were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Heisman frontrunner Arch Manning, only to run basic sets that relied on athletes like Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs and Kayden McDonald to make plays.

If we see something similar from Arthur Smith — with him disguising the offense’s intentions and leaning on Julian Sayin, Jackson, Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State’s many playmakers — then ooooooh wee, the Buckeyes’ offense could provide plenty of fireworks this fall. Count me in.
 
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Without quoting numerous recent posts about the perceived underachievement of last year’s offense, I’ll just say that I think the biggest issue, which no longer exists, is that Hartline was Peter Principled as OC and they were often overly conservative as a result. The biggest secondary issues, which I also think won’t reappear, were Sayin being inexperienced and not being given enough reps and tempo shifts in gimme games to overcome that when he had to beat elite defenses, the RBs being unable to beat the last man and turn decent runs into game breaking runs, and, of course, the usual shitty special teams play often leaving them in crappy field position, which I think/hope the new coach will fix. I think scheme/play calling, sludgy tempo, and RB inefficiency made the OL, excluding LG, which really was bad, look worse than it really was. All just my b.s. non-expert opinions of course.
 
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