OHIO STATE ADDED JOSH SIMMONS AS TRANSFER OFFENSIVE TACKLE BECAUSE OF PHYSICAL TOOLS, STARTING EXPERIENCE AND EXISITING RELATIONSHIP WITH JUSTIN FRYE
When Josh Simmons entered the transfer portal this spring, Justin Frye was already plenty familiar with the former San Diego State offensive tackle.
As the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at UCLA, Frye offered Simmons a scholarship to play for the Bruins after Simmons camped in Westwood in 2019. Having already worked hands-on with Simmons at that camp and gotten to know Simmons through the recruiting process made Frye more comfortable with bringing Simmons to Columbus to fill Ohio State’s need for a transfer offensive tackle.
“The camp’s always the best, from my mind because you’re hands-on with the kids. So we had a really good time, I recruited him there for a while,” said Frye, who is now entering his second year as Ohio State’s offensive line coach. “Just having some common ground of being able to work with him before and being out there with him is obviously a huge help.”
What made Simmons an intriguing prospect to Frye four years ago and once again when he entered the transfer portal after two years at SDSU? Frye said that starts with Simmons’ physical tools as a 6-foot-6, 305-pound offensive tackle.
“He's got a great frame, he’s got good length. He's got twitch, he's got burst. He's got a lot of tools that you look for,” Frye said. “I offered him out of high school at my last place because I felt like he had a chance to be a really good player. So it’s not something like a guy just popped on the scene, he's been a player.”
Secondly, Simmons has something that many other offensive tackles who entered the transfer portal didn’t: Significant experience at the collegiate level. Simmons started all 13 games at right tackle for the Aztecs last season, giving Frye plenty of game tape to evaluate. And Frye liked what he saw well enough to feel confident Simmons can be an Ohio State-caliber tackle.
“If you were taking another guy out of the portal that maybe really doesn't have a lot of tape, you're relying more on what you've seen before possibly or some other things or really just necessity of need,” Frye said. “But for him, it was good, because I had hands-on, I had a prior relationship, I'd been out there for so many years and being around the right people to ask the right questions. And then you could press play for 13 games and watch him do it.”