Ohio State Football Notebook: ‘A man 330 pounds running that fast, I’ve never seen it’

Big Man On Campus

Now that senior left guard Donovan Jackson is going to be back in the starting lineup for the Buckeyes, redshirt sophomore right guard Tegra Tshabola will be the only first-year starter on the Ohio State offensive line this weekend against Marshall.

Tshabola won the position battle in preseason practice and has impressed in his first two games as a starter. He’s also getting better every single day.

“I mean, I feel good,” he said. “Challenging myself every day to improve. Challenging the D-line to help me improve, challenging coaches. Coaches are challenging me. Pushing me every single day to get better.”

As for the secret to his success, it’s not really much of a secret.

“I mean, I just try to go hard every single play,” he said. “I try to put my best on the field for the guy in front of me and for the guy watching me the next week.”

What does the tape show?

“Super physical,” said senior right tackle Josh Fryar. “Super physical, big, and athletic.”

And even though Tshabola has just two starts under his belt, he’s mature enough to know that he doesn’t have all the answers. That’s why he can rely on veteran starters like Fryar and center Seth McLaughlin to help him out along the way.

The result will then speak for itself.

“If he has a problem with a play or something, he’ll ask me or Seth And I think that’s good for us because me and Seth are experienced,” Fryar said. “And Tegra, he’s playing really hard. Just the athleticism of Tegra is insane. A man 330 pounds running that fast, I’ve never seen it.”

Keep Your Head Up

Senior cornerback Denzel Burke returns to the lineup this week after being ejected in the first half of the Western Michigan game for targeting. It was a questionable call that head coach Ryan Day spoke to the Big Ten Conference about, but Day has declined to share the contents of that conversation.

Regardless, Burke is back this week for Marshall and nobody is looking forward to this game more than he is.

“Extremely ready to play this next game,” Burke said on Wednesday. “Especially Marshall, they throw the ball a lot. So I definitely have some play opportunities to get out there.”

The Thundering Herd quarterbacks have thrown the ball 68 times in two games this year, which means Burke could be pretty busy this Saturday.

“Yeah, I’m definitely excited for that,” he said. “I’m excited for them to throw the ball and be able to put myself in a position to make a play, hopefully turn the ball over. So I’m really excited for this weekend. They’re a good team, they’ll do things well schematically.So I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”

As for missing more than an entire half of football for targeting, it was not a pleasant experience.

“It’s never a good feeling, especially being it’s my last year,” he said. “I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity I have. And just being out for the first half kind of sucked, but it’s part of the game.”

What did he learn from the situation as a whole?

“Keep my head up,” he said.

Put The Biscuits In The Basket

Marshall head coach Charles Huff is in his fourth year with the Thundering Herd and has led his team to a bowl game in each of his first three seasons. Huff’s team is sitting with a 1-1 record at the moment, which isn’t always indicative of the state of a program like Marshall’s.

Speaking with reporters this week, Huff was asked about the state of the program but at the end of his answer he did make an enticing — and facetious –recruiting pitch to any Buckeyes who might be listening.

“I feel good about the track we’re on. Trust me, I know where we are, but I feel good about the track we’re on, and I feel good about the players we have,” Huff said before adding a recruiting pitch. “Would love to have some of those guys from Ohio State too. So if they want to transfer on down, we’ve got a Tudor’s Biscuit NIL. All you can eat. So if any of those guys that run really really fast at Ohio State like Tudor’s Biscuits. I promise you, all you can eat, all day if you transfer here.”

Of course, all-you-can-eat biscuits sandwiches is a surefire way to no longer be “really fast,” but that’s a problem for another day.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was asked if he’d seen Huff’s comments.

“Yeah, somebody sent that and I thought, first of all, again, I have a lot of respect for him, I think he’s very thorough in his approach, I think he does a really good job in communicating, runs a really good program,” Day said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him, but I thought the way he handled that was great. Sometimes, as coaches, we take ourselves too seriously, and I just thought that he was having a great moment there.

“But listen, those guys are gonna come here to play, and he’s gonna get those guys ready, and I know that for a fact. They’re a good team and he’s a good coach. Good staff, good players, and they’ve got a lot to come in here and prove. Every day you have an opportunity to prove somebody right and prove somebody wrong, and they’re gonna come in the same way, so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

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