Ohio State Football: Why doesn’t Urban Meyer have a dominant O line?

Why isn’t the Ohio State line dominant?

During the first four years of Urban Meyer’s tenure at Ohio State, the offensive line was the driving force of his spread offense. When necessary, the O line would just take over a game by dominating the opposing team’s defensive line and any linebackers who got in the way. That hasn’t been the case at times lately and I wonder why.

During coach Meyer’s first four years as the Buckeye head coach his offensive lines were mostly composed of players he inherited. With the exception of Taylor Decker and Billy Price, he hadn’t recruited any of the linemen, and Price was initially a defensive lineman.

Most of the players were already on the roster when coach Meyer arrived in Columbus, including two defensive linemen who moved to offense and a TE who was converted to right tackle. Two others were Luke Fickell’s recruits in the 2012 class before Urban took over the head coaching position.

Coach Meyer has certainly attempted to load the offensive line with players he hoped could pile drive opposing defensive lines but hasn’t been able to do so. Probably no coach in America has recruited more highly ranked offensive linemen the last few years, but it hasn’t yielded the results the Buckeye head coach expected.

Could it be that he is looking in all the wrong places? Maybe he should take a closer look at the starters on his dominant Ohio State offensive lines, and where they grew up.

Jack Mewhort Toledo, OH
Andrew Norwell Cincinnati, OH
Corey Linsley Youngstown, OH
Marcus Hall Cleveland, OH
Reid Fragel Grosse Pointe, MI
Taylor Decker Vandalia, OH
Pat Elflein Pickerington, OH
Jacoby Boren Pickerington, OH
Chase Farris Elyria, OH
Billy Price Youngstown, OH

Did anybody notice that all but one of those players played their high school football in Ohio?

And remember when the pundits said the Alabama defensive line in 2014 was too strong to run against, yet the Ohio State offensive line manhandled them? Those were Ohio boys who did that, and only Taylor Decker was a four star offensive line recruit.

Right tackle Darryl Baldwin had just switched over from defense the previous season and Billy Price switched to offense during the spring. Two players on that 2014 Buckeye offensive line probably would never have received a scholarship offer from Urban Meyer if Luke Fickell didn’t already have them committed to the 2012 Ohio State recruiting class.

Jacoby Boren and Pat Elflein were undersized 3 star offensive linemen. Coach Meyer generally looks for bigger four star players.

More from Scarlet and Game

Urban hasn’t abandoned recruiting offensive linemen within the state while he looks elsewhere for players at other positions. But still, only 12 of his 22 offensive line recruits have been from the state of Ohio.

Quite possibly Urban Meyer and his coaching staff should stop spending a ton of money on air fare searching for prospective offensive line recruits across the nation. Putting gas in the tank and driving to watch Ohio high school football games may be more productive.

See, players like Elflein and Boren always felt they had something to prove because they weren’t highly ranked recruits. And Baldwin just wanted a chance to play any position so he worked extremely hard to earn his opportunity. And all three players wanted to play for the team they grew up following, and dreamed of playing for, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Next: Meyer passing Saban's legacy coaching in Big Ten

Now tell me this, wouldn’t you love to have these three guys beside you in a street fight? And isn’t that what offensive line play is all about anyway. It’s hard to lose a fight with good buddies right beside you.

Home/Ohio State Football