The Ohio State Buckeyes' offensive line got a mulligan for left tackle Ethan Onianwa, a transfer from the Rice Owls in the 2025 portal cycle, who was not up to snuff and unable to protect Julian Sayin's blindside last season. That's what Cleveland.com's Stephen Means believes, anyway.
Means made the case that the Buckeyes essentially got lucky that Austin Siereveld was able to be the answer at left tackle instead, hence suggesting the continuity from last season is, in some ways, an illusion.
“The problem with the idea of, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ — that’s like giving them the credit that they just decided to put Austin Siereveld at tackle, and it wasn’t, ‘Oh, we put Austin Siereveld at tackle because the guy we actually wanted to play left tackle we found out wasn’t any good,’” Means said on the latest Buckeye Talk.
Ian Moore could be Ohio State's fixer on the offensive line, and make Austin Siereveld one too
With Onianwa on his way to a likely NFL draft day three or undrafted free agent fate in the pros, the left tackle position may be held by Siereveld again. Still, moving him to guard and trusting redshirt sophomore Ian Moore a fair share of snaps on the blindside could be what truly propels this offensive line to its potential zenith with his speed covering opposing edge rushers.
Moore replacing Phillip Daniels as the starting right tackle is perhaps likelier than him being a true swing tackle, but with a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, there could be greater variance between what he's seeing now and what he sees in August, when decisions for Week 1 are needed.
Moore is being hyped as a fixer, and if Smith, Ryan Day, and Tyler Bowen get creative enough, perhaps he can be a multi-positional one. In that case, Siereveld would also be one too, in his own way.